How Was I Supposed To Know?
by HydeLuver
Summary: Jackie returns to Point Place five years after Sam shows up and brings with her a surprise that will forever change Hyde's life *A few mistakes were made in the story so it's 2 years later*
1. Here we stand

_I do not own any of the characters from That 70's Show. This is my original story. Though the plot has been written before, these are my own words. _

**Point Place- 1982**

_Hyde's POV_

It has been a little over two years since Sam left. That day still plays fresh in my head. Her husband, actual husband, shows up at the basement to take her back to Vegas. I can't really say that I was disappointed but rather relieved. It isn't that I hated being with Sam, I mean if you would have seen her you would have understood, she was hot man. I married a hot, blonde, flexible stripper. That's every man's dream but when she was finally out of my life, it was as if she had never even entered it.

It has been just as long since she went away. Not having spoken to her in about a year would make anyone think that I have forgotten everything about her, but I haven't. If I close my eyes I can still see her 5'2 95-lbs frame, her soft, brown hair cascading down on her shoulders and down her back. Her green and blue sparkling blue eyes which gave away every emotion she ever felt. The same eyes that gave way to the many tears I was responsible for. For over a year she was my entire life, my entire world and I was hers. Then a drunken mistake, which led to Sam, led to both our worlds crumbling in a matter of seconds. We went from being lovers, to being friends, to being nothing. Jackie Burkhart. I'm not sure what she's doing right now or who she's with, but one think I am sure of, she's not thinking about me the way I'm thinking about her.

**Chicago- 1982**

_In Jackie's apartment_

Jackie is running late for work. It's her first week at a new TV station and, given that her boss is extremely uptight and bitchy she knows that she can not afford to be late. She was, after all, her boss's assistant and her absence would surely go noticed. "Hurry up Stevie baby mommy has to go to work." Jackie tries to pick up after her son. She looks around the room and realizes that she wouldn't be able to pick it up without being late to work so she decides to leave it and pick up the toys and clothes her son has thrown around her apartment when she got back from work. She realized how exhausted she was. Not only did she have to care for Stevie by herself, but she had to deal with a demanding boss and be on call whenever she calls. "Mommy I can't find my glasses" "Stevie, we'll look for them later, we really need to go baby mommy's already late for work." She picks up her sons backpack from the sofa and smiles at him as he comes out of his bedroom with a pout that resembles her own. Her smile drops however, once she takes a look at his bright blue eyes. Those eyes shared by both her son and the man she had grown to love during her younger years and the man who hard broken her heart. The perfection that was her son had only been achieved by the joining of her body and his body...though at the time it had been the most pleasurable memory it now served as the most painful. As much as she loves her son, it pained her sometimes to look at him because of the resemblance he shared with his father. "Mommy did you hear me?" Coming out of her trance, Jackie turned to look at her son "HUH? What was that sweetie?" "I said that I'm ready mommy" Stevie reached up his arms so that Jackie would carry him. "Okay, well if my little man is ready to go, we shall go" says Jackie picking up her son and shaking his curly hair. She shuts off the light to her apartment, locks the door, and heads to her old Delorean. As she starts the ignition she realizes that she's going to be at least fifteen minutes late for work.


	2. Bacon, Fries, and Broken Zen

_I do not own any of the characters from That 70's Show. This is my original story. Though the plot has been written before, these are my own words. The only character I do own is Stevie. _

**At the Forman's kitchen:**

Kitty is by the stove whipping up a hearty breakfast for Red after a long night with the house "all to themselves." "I can't believe these sons of bitches. They're increasing the cost of gas AGAIN. I'm telling you Kitty, this damn country is going to hell. Pretty soon we're going to be like those damn commies, getting our asses kicked by this damn economy." Red is still looking down at his newspaper while Kitty is setting down their breakfast**. "**Oh Red don't worry so much, I'm sure it's going to get better soon. In the meantime just eat your food. Look I even made your favorite, eggs, pancakes, bacon and homefries." Ten minutes into their breakfast, the sliding door opens to display a very sleepy Hyde. "Steven honey what's wrong? You look like you haven't slept in days. Here, take a seat, let me get you some breakfast." "Thanks Mrs. Forman." Red slightly looks up from his newspaper. "So, Steven...why are you here?" "RED! Don't grill Steven, let him eat first. Here Steven dear eat up, you look like you haven't eaten in a while either. What's going on with you?" Hyde didn't seem to bother chewing his food, he just appeared to be inhaling everything at once. Red, noticing this put his paper down. "Okay, What the hell is wrong with you?" Hyde looked up at once, confusion in his eyes. Seeing that both Forman's were now looking at him and would not let up, he decided to come clean, being that they were the only two people he could tell or would even care. He sighs as he thinks of the words to tell them. "Christmas is coming up in three weeks." "Yeah so?" answers Red. "Well, I..um...I overheard you, Mrs. Forman telling Donna that..um..you were um..making chicken instead of pork and I think that's breaking tradition." He said the last extremely quickly and looked back down at his plate realizing how stupid this must have sounded to the Forman and he knew they didn't believe him. "Steven...You're a real dumbass." Kitty couldn't help but to laugh. "Steven, did you hear me tell Donna about Jackie coming over for Christmas this year?" Hyde, without looking up at her simply coughed and nodded his head slightly. "I have been meaning to talk to you about that actually. There's something I think you should know." "Kitty, not now, not while I'm having my breakfast." "Red, but I really think he should know, I mean Christmas is only three weeks away like he said. I don't want him to be caught off guard, so I'm sure some warning won't hurt him." "Kitty, I said not now okay? If you want to be the one to tell him then fine, whatever, but do not do it while I'm here." "Tell me what?" asks Steven. He is now getting very frustrated at the Forman's secrecy about him while he's sitting right next to them. He also knows it has something to do with Jackie since they had just been talking about her. He notices Red glaring at Kitty and became even more frustrated. After a few seconds he realized that whatever it was they weren't telling him must be serious. "Does Jackie have a boyfriend is that what it is?" He tried to keep his face in it's usual Zen mode even though his heart was pounding hard against his chest. "No, no Steven. Jackie doesn't have a boyfriend." His heartbeats slowed down as he breathed a low sigh of relief. However, he still did not know what was going on and demanded to know immediately. "Mrs. Foman, please. I need to know what's going on. What's going on with Jackie?" "Red, please!" Red stands, puts his paper down and looks at Kitty "fine Kitty. You can tell him but I want no part in this." He opens the sliding door and steps out to the garage. "Okay, Steven...I really need you to brace yourself. What I'm about to tell you is a really serious matter and it's going to change your life. You're going to be mad and I'll understand if you yell obscenities, but I really think it's about time you know what's been going on for the past two year. Hyde takes a deep breath, sits back and reminds himself to remain Zen though he knew this two year secret would be the thing to crack his cool facade.


	3. I am the father?

_I do not own any of the characters from That 70's Show. This is my original story. Though the plot has been written before, these are my own words. The only character I do own is Stevie. _

**Jackie's Chicago apartment **

Ten O'clock. Having fed Stevie his dinner and putting him to bed, Jackie sat in her living room with piles of paper work she hadn't had a chance to finish at the office which were due at the end of the week. She began to look around the apartment at the mess that still remained. Tears threatened to escape her eyes. Even though she put on a brave face to try to cover up the pain that was her reality. She knew she had to maintain her strong image, if not for her then for her son. She was all he had in this world, that he knew of anyways, and she couldn't let herself fail him like his father had. However, as much as she wanted to, she couldn't hate Steven. Sure she hated him for hurting her and marrying a stripper instead of her, but as far as Stevie was concerned, she couldn't blame him for not being a part of his sons life because, after all, he didn't even know Stevie existed. She never told him that she was pregnant. She hadn't known until after Sam showed up and realizing that her future with Steven was never going to happen, she decided to move her life to Chicago. _Stop thinking about this Jackie. It's not worth it. Be strong and stop thinking about Steven. Do your work . _She looks down at all the work she has not done. After about twenty minutes of filling out guest forms and doing her boss' schedule for the following week, Jackie heard whimpering coming from Stevie's room. She quickly goes over to see what's going on. As she quietly opens the door she can see her son tossing and turning in bed, yet clearly still asleep. She can hear him talking in his sleep but can't make out the words he is saying so she decides to get closer to his bed. "...daddy...I have one too...he's...my mommy...he loves me..." Jackie's eyes begin to fill with tears. Though the words are incoherent, she knows what he's saying. He has a daddy too...and he loves him. If only he were old enough to understand that _if _his father knew about him, he _would _love him. But because he doesn't know about him, he can't possibly feel that way. Acknowledging this to herself broke her heart and she knew it was time to face what she had been trying to avoid. _He can't grow up without a father and I can't fill in for Steven...no matter how hard I try, I just can't. _Not being able to take the pain that her son's subconscious words were causing her, she closed the door to his bedroom and, with tears making her way down her face, she returns to her work.

**Forman Kitchen:**

Hyde is sitting still, wide-eyed letting the words sink in. _A baby. Him? A father? _"...she just thought it would be better if she didn't tell you so you could enjoy your life with Sam. She didn't want to be a burden on you." Still not completely understanding what he has just been told, Hyde looks down at his hands. _A burden? _"Steven..please say something sweetie." Mrs. Forman is looking very worried at him knowing that the news she has delivered is not easy to take in, but expecting more of a reaction than just stiff nonchalantness. For another few minutes, the awkward silence continues to fill the room until it was finally broken by Hyde. "What am I supposed to say Mrs. Forman? I have a son somewhere and up until now I had no idea he even existed and all because Jackie didn't want to cause a burden to me?" "Steven, I know she should have told you but you have to see where she's coming from. You were with Sam and she knew that you were married so what was she supposed to say? That's not the easiest thing to tell a man who is married to another woman." "Mrs. Forman please do not take Jackie's side. This is deeper than Sam and I. This is my son we're talking about here. I always told myself that when I had kids I would not be like Bud and I would be there for my kids and she knew how important it was for me to be there for my kids and she gave me no choice but to be like Bud. What am I supposed to do now?" Mrs. Forman looked at him startled. She always knew that Hyde was a good guy but she hadn't realized how important this was to him, but then again she should have known. Given Hyde's childhood, she should have known that he would have wanted a different life for his kids, so he understood his side, yet she also understood Jackie's point. You can't simply go to a married man, especially a man who held your heart for so long and broke it, and tell him that you are pregnant with his child. Hyde got up and paced back and forth until he finally looked at her. "Who else knows?" Reluctant to tell him, she looked around the kitchen. "Mrs. Forman, I need to know if I was the only person Jackie didn't tell about my son." She now had to look at him, given the seriousness of his tone. " We all knew Steven...We've all met him." Hyde now couldn't believe what he was hearing, not only had the known about his son, but the had all _met _him. He wanted to scream and curse and fight someone but he knew Mrs. Forman wasn't to blame and he had to keep his cool around her. Sitting down, he sighs and puts his face in his hands. Mrs. Forman begins stroking the side of his arm not knowing exactly what to say, so she just awaited until he said something. A few minutes passed by before he raised his head and looked directly into her eyes. "What is he like?" Mrs. Forman smiled. "Oh Steven, he's the most perfect thing I've ever seen. I can't describe him to you, you just have to wait until he comes over for Christmas and then you'll understand."


	4. He doesn't love you

_I do not own any of the characters from That 70's Show. This is my original story. Though the plot has been written before, these are my own words. The only character I do own is Stevie. There might be some timely accuracies as to when things were around (ie. The cell phone) but for the sake of the story I will ignore them._

**Chicago- 1PM**

Jackie, now on her lunch break when she heard the vibration of her cell phone in her bag. Rummaging through the dozen papers she finally found it. _Donna? _It had been a few weeks since she had spoken to Donna, not because she didn't want to speak to her but rather because both were so busy leading their own lives. You see, Donna had gone with Eric back to Africa for a few months after they rang in the 1980 new years. Once she returned she decided to go to college in Madison until she finally got a job writing for the Wisconsin Daily. "Donna, Hi!" answered Jackie with enthusiasm in her voice. It was the first time in a really long time she had been enthusiastic about anything, unless it had to do with Stevie of course. On the other end, Jackie could hear the seriousness of Donna's voice as she heard it going 100 miles an hour. "Wait Donna slow down, I can't understand what you're saying." Once she finally got Donna to slow down she wished she hadn't understood what she was being told. Her heart immediately sank. "He knows? But how? Donna you didn't tell him did you?" As Donna began telling her the story of Mrs. Forman telling Hyde about Stevie, Jackie sat there dumbstruck. She couldn't believe that after two years he finally knew; he knew that he had a child with her. What scared her the most was that he knew that she had kept this from him even though she knew how much he had wanted to be a good father to his kids. "He went where?" _To Kenosha? _Hyde had gone to W.B's house to talk to him. "Why would he go to W.B what does he have to do with anything?" Donna told Jackie that Mrs. Forman told Hyde that everyone knew about Stevie and had even met him, including W.B and Hyde was going to go confront his father who should have known better being that he too, was deprived the opportunity to fulfill his role as a father for many years. "Donna what am I going to do? Steven must be so upset with me and I can't face him and I can't just bring him into Stevie's life as the father he's never had, it would confuse him so much." _Great, another thing to add to my list of worries. God why do these things happen to me. I was dealing just fine and now this?_ "Okay well Donna I have to go back to work, I'll call you later on today. Oh and Donna? Thank you so much for letting me know." As she hung up the phone and started walking back to her office Jackie remembered the words Stevie said while he was sleeping. "...I have one too..." _Yes you do baby, and now he knows that your daddy knows he has a son._

**Kenosha-**

Hyde walks into the lobby of W.B's _Grooves Company _looking around frantically. He walks up to the service desk and almost as though scolding the secretary asks "where the hell is W.B?" The petite secretary, though looking afraid managed to force a smile. "He's in his office right now, kind of busy though. Can I take your name and tel..." Before she was even done with her sentence, Hyde begins to dart towards W.B's office in the 7th floor. Thinking that the elevator will take too long, he sprung towards the stairs skipping two at a time. Flushed and breathless he finally made it up to the 7th floor where he walked right into W.B's office. "Steven, it's good to see you...What's going on?" W.B noticing the deranged look in Hyde's eyes grew concerned. "When the hell were you going to tell me about the kid I have with Jackie?" W.B set his pen down and leaned back in his chair. After a few minutes of silence, he looked up at Hyde who was looking anxious to hear his answer. " How'd you find out?" "Definitely not from you. What the hell kind of father are you? You know how it feels to not be around your son and you can't bother to tell me that I have a kid out there somewhere who I know nothing about?" "Steven, Jackie told me not to tell you son, she begged me." "YOU'RE MY FATHER! YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER THAN TO KEEP THAT FROM ME WHETHER OR NOT SHE ASKED YOU TO." "I know it was wrong to keep this from you, but I couldn't go against her wishes Steven." "WELL WHY THE HELL NOT?" "BECAUSE," W.B started yelling before pulling himself together once again. _Keep your composure W.B. _"because Steven, you hurt that girl too much and all she wanted was to start a new life, somewhere where you couldn't break her heart again...with her son." "HE'S MY SON TOO, DID ANYONE THINK ABOUT THAT?" Hyde took a deep breath before sitting down and calming himself down. "Did it occur to any of you that I might have wanted to know about him and wanted to be in his life? That maybe I was willing to sacrifice anything to be with them?" "Steven, you were a married man. You had built your own life with your wife. Jackie was only trying to build her own." "That's bullshit W.B and you know it. I was married TWO YEARS AGO. I WOULD HAVE PUT THAT ASIDE FOR MY KID. YOU KNOW THAT, THE FORMAN'S KNOW THAT, AND JACKIE KNOWS THAT. SO SPARE ME FROM THE "YOU WERE MARRIED" SPEECH BECAUSE IT'S ALL BULLSHIT AND YOU KNOW IT." W.B now stood from his chair and made his way across his desk to sit in the chair opposite Hyde's. "I know that you're angry and that it will take time to forgive us, but this is something you have to speak to Jackie about. You need to hear her explanation and her side of the story, not mine. You need to..." "No," Hyde cut him off "I don't need to understand anything. What I need to do is see my son."

**Chicago- 8pm**

Jackie and Stevie are laying in Jackie's bed watching Captain Caveman on T.V. "Mommy how come he can fly?" "He's a cartoon honey, he's not real." "oh...he's still cool." Jackie laughs. She can't believe how big her son has gotten and how smart he is. _Just like his father. _"Yes he is sweetheart_." _After a few more moments of watching the T.V. Stevie sits up from the bed and looks down at his knees, a sad expression evident in his face. "What's wrong?" "nothing." Jackie now sits up also and cups her sons face to make him look at her. "Stevie baby, what's going on. Tell mommy." Stevie shook Jackie's hands off and once again looked down at his knees before slowly and lowly responding "today was father appreciation day in school." Jackie's heart stopped. _Oh no. _She thought. "Oh." Trying to find better words to make her son feel better she found herself incapable of doing so. She knew the day would come when he would want to know about his father but she hadn't prepared herself, she didn't think it would come this soon. "It's no big deal" said Stevie as he was getting up from her bed. "Hey hey little man, where do you think you're going? Come here, let's talk" said Jackie while patting the space next to her. "So tell me, what happened exactly?" "Michelle's daddy was there, Paul's daddy was there, Julie's daddy was there. Everyone's daddies were there...and my daddy wasn't there. Mark said it's because I don't have one because he didn't love me and my Ms. Miller said she didn't either and that a lot of other people didn't..." tears began to fall from his eyes as tears began to fill Jackie's. "...it's just not fair. Why can mean Mark have a daddy but not me? I'm a good boy right mommy?" "Yes baby you're a very good boy...the best there is." She tried to force a smile and wipe the tears from her eyes. _Be strong Jackie. You have to stay strong. _"If I'm so good, then why don't I have a daddy? Is it because he doesn't love me?" Stevie continued to cry. More and more tears began to fall from his eyes and the more he cried the more Jackie's heart ached. _I can't do this. I can't keep doing this alone. _"No baby. Don't ever think that. Your daddy loves you very much. He's just really busy, but I promise you, you'll see him really soon. Now let's wipe these tears off your handsome face and get you to bed alright?" "Can I sleep with you mommy?" smiling down at her son as he wiped away his tears and yawned "sure honey, come on let's go to bed." Not too long after tucking him in, Stevie fell asleep, leaving a very sad Jackie away to think. _I can't keep this up. It's not getting any easier. _She slowly got out of bed and walked into the living room. Picking up the phone she dialed a very familiar number. _I need help_.


	5. Mrs Sam Hyde

**Madison-8:00pm **

Donna and Eric are laying down in bed Knight Rider. "So Hyde knows about Stevie now?" "Yeah, your mother told him." "WHAT? Why would she do that?" "I don't know Eric, maybe she thought he had the right to know." "I guess but it didn't give her the right to tell him. Jackie should have done it. God it's like my mother got possessed with the dark forces of dad." "Eric, what have I told you about the Star Wars analogies?" Donna rolls her eyes. _This little lollipop head. He's lucky I love him, my little nerd. _"Sorry, but it wasn't her place to tell Hyde." "I don't know Eric, I'm kid of glad Hyde knows." "I'm glad he knows too Donna, but my mom shouldn't have butt in." The phone begins to ring and Donna reaches over to pick it up. "Hello?" Eric begins flipping through the channel and stopped when he saw the trailer for _Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. _"OH MY GOD!" He quickly sat up and stared at the T.V as Donna rolled her eyes behind him. "Wait, father appreciation day? What the...OH MY GOD JACKIE!! I'm just now understanding it! That's awful. What did he say?" Eric turned quickly to look at Donna at the mentioning of Jackie's named following father appreciation day. He had an idea of what happened and knew what was coming. "Jackie, don't cry. You did a good job explaining to him and you know what you need to do now." She waited patiently while Jackie spoke. She glanced over at the T.V to where an Alice Cooper video was playing and then looked into Eric's eyes and shook her head after he mouthed "is everything okay?" "Jackie I know it's going to be hard telling him but at least the hard part is done. Al least now he knows about Stevie." _Father appreciation day_ thought Eric, he remembered those from when he was a kid and remembered a few times where Red hadn't shown up and how he felt like an outcast among the kids whose fathers were able to make it, but at least he knew his father. Stevie on the other hand didn't and Eric couldn't imagine what this little two year old could be going through. "Okay, I'll see you on Friday. Just be strong and don't worry. You did a good job raising him. Alright. Bye." Donna sighed and looked at Eric. "Now do you think it's okay that your mom told Hyde about Stevie? This is really hard on Stevie too Eric, he can't go on like this." Eric nodded his head. _I just hope Hyde doesn't screw this up like he screwed up with Jackie._

**Hyde's Basement bedroom-The next day:**

Laying on his cot, Hyde looks around at the room that had been his since his teen years. Everything about the room suddenly reminded him of Jackie. Though he had to admit that she was never really completely off his mind, knowing that they had a son together made him think about her even more. He remembered the many times they had laid here listening to music, looking into each others eyes, not having to say a word yet knowing what the other was thinking. In this very bed was where their son was most likely conceived. The thought of having a son made him happy, but the thought of not having been there for two years made him angry. _How could she not have told me? After everything we went through, she keeps __**this **__from me. _He caught a glimpse of an envelope on the bed stand next to his bed. He sat up and reached for it. He saw a Las Vegas address on the outside and grunted. He wanted to see what she wanted after almost two years of not having spoken to her. He ripped open the envelope and read the letter.

Hyde,

Hey baby. I know it's been a while since we have spoken to each other but I wanted you to know that I still think about you and that even though what we had didn't work out, I still love you. I hope you're doing alright and that you're still thinking about me. Hopefully you're not back with Jackie because you're so much better off without her and I know I'll always have your heart. Love you babe =)

Sam-Hyde

Anger began to boil in Hyde's blood. Two years and she has the nerve to write to him. That didn't upset him as much as the fact that she had the nerve to mention Jackie. _She didn't even know Jackie, how dare she speak badly of her. So I'm not with Jackie, that doesn't mean she doesn't hold a place in my heart. She wasn't just my first love, but now she's also the mother of my kid. _Crumpling up the letter, Hyde got up, threw it out on the trash and made his way to the kitchen to talk to Mrs. Forman. When he reached the kitchen, he sat down and remembered all the times he had sat at that table with Jackie on his lap, just kissing and looking into each others eyes or laughing at the stupid things Kelso or Fez said. He smiled as he continued to remember the happy memories of his childhood shared with the woman he loved. "Steven honey, are you hungry?" Snapped out of his trance, Hyde's smile turns into a frown. His life was no longer filled with happiness but rather with regrets and many questions of "what if?" "Mrs. Forman, I need to see them." "See who sweetie?" He just stared at her, not answering her question because he knew she knew who he was talking about. "Well they will be here in a few weeks Steven." "I can't wait a few weeks Mrs. Forman. I already wasted two years without my son, I need to see him...I need to see her. To talk to her. Mrs. Forman, please just let me talk to her." "Steven, honey I'll tell you what. Next time I talk to her I'll ask her if she's ready to talk to you. I don't want to push her into something she's not ready to do yet. Jackie might be loud, but um...you hurt hear really badly Steven." "Mrs. Forman..." He stopped himself. He knows how badly he hurt her and obviously they didn't have the best relationship anymore, but he needed to talk to her, to see how she was doing, why she had kept his son from him. He wanted to ask her if she was fine by herself and if it had been hard raising their son by herself. "How is she?" "who Jackie?" Surprised at the question and the tone of concern in his voice, she stared at him for a few seconds. "She's fine. She has a job as an assistant for some woman on T.V." "No I mean...how is she doing? Like emotionally. Is she happy?" Mrs. Forman frowns and Hyde takes this as a no. "Oh." He answers as he looks down at the table. "She's not miserable either though, she has Stevie so he makes her happy." Hyde nods his head. Then he remembered the letter from Sam. "Mrs. Forman, that letter on my bed stand...was from Sam." "Oh?" "Yeah, she said she still loves me and hopes I haven't gotten back together with Jackie." "mhm?" "I wanted to know what you think about that." "You want to know what I think?" Hyde nods his head. "I don't want you to take this personally, but you're a dumbass. You had a really good thing with Jackie and you ruined it when you married Sam. I mean Sam wasn't a bad person but she was no Jackie. Did you not realize that you were happy with Jackie? Steven she was good for you. Then you just let her go, you didn't fight for her or anything. Then when she left, you acted as though you didn't care. That's the main reason she never contacted you and told her about Stevie, because she thought you wouldn't care." "Why would she think that, does she not know that Sam left?" "She didn't know until recently." "But Sam left two years ago, surely Donna must have told her, or Kelso, Fez...Eric?" Kitty shakes her head. "We thought it would hurt her too much to know that you let go of your future with her to be with Sam and it didn't work out between you too. It would have broken her heart to know that she could have been with you forever, but wasn't." "hmm...." Hyde begins to get up to leave and begins to walk towards the living room when he was stopped by Mrs. Forman. "Steven?" "Yeah?" "She still loves you, you know. Jackie. She tells me whenever I speak to her. That she will always love you." Hyde looks at Mrs. Hyde and watches her as she resumes preparing dinner.


	6. Reunited

**Jackie's Chicago apartment- the following night: **

"Stevie's fine Mrs. Forman. He fell asleep not too long ago actually. He was watching Scooby Doo and he just fell asleep." Jackie was laying on her bed with a copy of _Cosmo _on her lap and talking on the phone with Kitty. "Work is good. It's getting a lot easier. Miss Landon's going a lot easier on me after I got Robert Plant to appear on her how." Jackie had to pull the phone away from her ear as Mrs. Forman yelled in her ear from the excitement. "OOOh Jackie, Robert Plant, he is so cute. I saw him in that cooking show once and he's a real cutie." Jackie begins to laugh. "Um, Mrs. Forman, I think you're confusing him with someone else. Robert Plant is the lead singer for Led Zeppelin." "Led who? Oh is that that silly band that's in all of Steven's shirts?" Realizing she had mentioned Hyde's name Kitty quickly apologizes to Jackie. "Don't worry about it Mrs. Forman, it's not that big a deal." Mrs. Forman kept apologizing and then she asked Jackie a question that made her heart freeze. "He wants to talk to me?" _He wants to talk about Stevie. Oh my God, I can't do this yet, not over the phone. _"Here's standing right next to me, he would really like to talk to you Jackie" she heard Mrs. Forman say, but all she heard was standing right next to me. The rest of the sentence went unheard. She could picture him in the Forman's kitchen waiting for to be given the phone with his unruly curly hair, concert tee, boots and signature sunglasses. For a split second Jackie closed her eyes in order to picture him but then realized what she was doing. _No, he hurt you remember? You can't think of him no matter how sexy you remember him to be. _"I'm not sure that's such a good idea." "Why not?" Jackie became speechless. Hyde must have taken the phone away from Mrs. Forman knowing that she was going to say no. "Jackie, why would it not be a good idea?" "uh..um.." _What is wrong with you? Say something! You're not a little girl anymore, you're an adult so act like one...SAY SOMETHING!! _"Hi Stev...Hyde" She closed her eyes as she said his last name. _Hyde?_ She had never called him Hyde before, she didn't want to be like everyone else. "Hi Jackie." Awkward silence followed. Jackie took in the sound of her name escaping his lips after two years and on the other end, Hyde was absorbing the smooth rhythm of her breath. "How have you been?" he asked finally breaking the silence. " I've been pretty good, working hard, you know the usual." "And taking care of Stevie I hope." Her heart stopped. _It seems to be stopping a lot this week. Be cool Jackie. Don't let him get to you. _"Yeah of course." In the Forman's kitchen, Hyde runs his hands through his curly hair, the way Jackie had too often done in those days they were together. He used to think that he forgot the sound of her voice, but hearing it once again made him realize that her voice had been the one that haunted him in his sleep as the voice of the angel he let go, the angel that could have made him happy for the rest of his life. "Jackie, why did you.." He was caught off when Jackie began to talk "Listen, can we not talk about this over the phone. We can talk about it when I go over for Christmas but I think my decision and anything relating to my son is too important to talk about over the phone." Silence. For a few seconds Jackie considered hanging up the phone. A huge part of her wanted to hang up to prove to him that she was strong and she didn't need him, but the other part couldn't bring herself to do so. It had been so long since she heard his voice that she didn't want to hang up. She heard him take a deep breath before saying "Just so you know, I'm not mad at you for leaving. But I am mad that you didn't give me a chance to be his father. That he had to grow up like me. I know how hard that is Jackie, and I'm mad he had to go through that." She heard a click on the other end of the phone followed by a dial tone. She stared at the handle for a few minutes before slowing placing it back on the receiver. In two weeks her son would meet his father and the days seemed to be going to fast, not allowing her any time to prepare for what would happen.

**The Forman's Kitchen:**

Hyde stood in front of the phone he had just reluctantly hung up for a few seconds before turning around. Much to his surprise Kitty was still in the room, sitting by the table, beckoning him to sit by her so they could talk. In the seconds it took him to reach the table a million thoughts started racing through his head. _In only two more weeks I'll see her again. In only two more weeks I'll meet my son. __She sounded the same, but different. She sounded so mature. So independent. From him. She sounded like she no longer needed him. Like he was just some stranger who couldn't offer her anything but endless tears. _"So I was thinking of going to the mall tomorrow to buy Stevie and Jackie something for Christmas, their gifts are the only ones I'm missing." Hyde looked up. The thought of buying them a Christmas gift hadn't even crossed his mind. All he was able to think was his son, the son and the woman he had failed. "Steven?" "Huh?" "I asked you if you would like to come with me." "Yeah...sure, I'll go. " Kitty watched him walk out of the kitchen and making his way to the basement. Though curious to know what Jackie had told him, she knew that this time she really needed to butt out and let them solve their own problems. _They're not kids anymore Kitty. You can't help them with everything anymore. _The thought of not being needed as much crushed her, but she knew it was bound to come sooner or later.

**Wisconsin Mall- The following afternoon:**

_This was her favorite place in this dingy ass town. Her haven. _Hyde looked at all the store windows and couldn't help but to think about Jackie. Everything in there reminded her of her. The cheese shop where she had worked the summer her father cut her off for dating Kelso. He had enjoyed teasing her about the ridiculous Dairy Maid uniform she had been forced to wear though subconsciously having enjoyed the shortness of her skirt, the tightness of her top and the bouncy curl of her hair. Walking past the wedding shop he visualized her in a wedding dress while helping Forman pick out his tux. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and recalled the beauty that he had seen before him that day as she stood in front of him in a wedding dress. The urge to propose to her right then and there had ran through his mind at the time, yet months later he couldn't even bring himself to promise her a future together. He got out of his trance when he realized he was standing outside a toy store. "Mrs. Forman?" "Yes Steven?" "I can't do this." She looked at him confused for a while, almost bewildered. "What do you mean you _can't _do this?" He smiled a very sad smile, a smile he had only given once, two years ago, when he let her leave. "I..um...don't know what he likes." Kitty begins to laugh. "Well lucky for you, you have me here. And no one knows my grandson like I do." Knowing that she meant no harm by those words, he couldn't help but become sadder. _At least you know him._

**Chicago- 9PM:**

Having dropped off Stevie at her cousin's house for the night, Jackie made her way to her apartment to tidy up. The previous night she had told Donna about her conversation with Hyde and Donna convinced Jackie to let her go over so they could talk about it. Less that 20 minutes after she got home, the doorbell rings. Jackie rushes over to the door and as soon as she opens it, she sees a tall red hear with a huge smile on her face. "OH MY GOD DONNA!" both girls give each other a huge hug to make up for the weeks they had gone without seeing each other. "Oh my gosh I can't believe it. It feels like I haven't seen you in months." "I know" replies Jackie. Both fill each other in on what their lives have been like in the weeks they were apart. "So Eric's going to go to Spain for three weeks, but because of college, I can't go, so I thought I could come down here on the weekends to help you with Stevie while he's gone." "Oh my God, yes! That's a fantastic idea. I'm so excited!! It'll be like we're seventeen all over again." They spoke for a long time reminiscing about the "good ol' day" and talking about their future plans. Donna then saw the perfect opportunity to ask Jackie about the conversation she had with Hyde over the phone the previous night. "I was so nervous Donna. It was like one second I was talking to Mrs. Forman and the next second I was on the phone with Steven and I wanted to be mad at him for everything he ever did to me. I tried SO hard but I couldn't because I'm no better than he is. I kept his son away from him for two years." Jackie's eyes began to fill with tears. "Jackie, NO. You're not going to feel bad about what you did. Hyde hurt you and you hurt him. That's how your relationship worked and it was unhealthy for both of you. I'm not saying that keeping Stevie a secret was the right thing to do, but you did it and your son turned out to be wonderful. Stevie is an amazing kid and you did that by yourself so don't cry, I need you to be strong for Stevie and for yourself." Jackie tried to keep herself from crying but was unsuccessful as memories of Hyde and her together when they were younger ran through her mind. "Donna...Would you think I was stupid if I told you I still love him?" Jackie wanted to get someone's approval, especially Donna's. At first Donna looked very uncomfortable and did not want to answer Jackie's question. Truth be told, she didn't think Jackie was stupid for still loving Hyde. She would have actually been surprised if she didn't still harbor feelings for Hyde given everything they went through together. But she didn't want to tell Jackie that she wasn't stupid for still loving Hyde because she wanted Jackie to be strong on her own and she knew that by saying no, Jackie would get some hope of getting back with Hyde. "Jackie," Donna sighs "you and Hyde went through a lot together and I always knew you still have feelings for him but I don't want you to get your hopes up about getting with back together with him. Hyde's changed just as much as you have so I don't want you to be disappointed if, when you see him again, he's not what you expect him to be like." "Donna,I don't think I could give him another chance. He hurt me so bad and I'll never forget that and if I were to give him another chance I would never fully trust him again. But I can't help loving him. And he's my son's father so it makes it so much more confusing." "Jackie. Steven might have helped make Stevie but he can't come claiming to be his father because for two years he wasn't there." Jackie was stunned at what Donna was saying. _He is Stevie's father. He hurt you Jackie and you took his son away without him knowing. You can't be mad at him for not being a father to someone he didn't know even existed until about two days ago. _Then it finally dawned on her that she never told Donna about Hyde being unaware of Stevie. Donna assumed Hyde knew about Stevie but wanted nothing to do with them. "Uh, Donna? I think there's something you should know that might make you change your mind about Steven." "What is it?"


	7. The Call

_Note: I did make a mistake in the story and it was just brought to my attention. It is actually FIVE years later not two, so Stevie is actually five years old and it is 1985 not 1982. _

**Point Place- December 23rd 1985 (8:30pm):**

About two weeks had passed since Hyde first found out about the son he had with Jackie. It was not the 23rd which meant he would meet his son and see Jackie again in two days. Hyde tried to keep his cool, tried to remain Zen, but the more he thought about it. He headed down to the basement to think, however as he was heading out of the kitchen he glanced over at the phone and thought about calling Jackie. As he picked up the phone, he realized he didn't have her phone number. _There's a reason you don't have it idiot. She didn't want you to call her. _As he put the handle back on the receiver Red walked in. "Who are you calling Steven?" "Uh..Randy." "Randy? The dumbass that worked with you with the girl hair?" "Yeah. He called earlier and I wanted to see what he wanted." "MHM. Steven come sit down." Red and Hyde walked over to the table in the kitchen and Hyde knew he was in for a lecture. "Steven, I know you want to talk to Jackie, but calling her when she's not expecting your call is not the way to go son. See Jackie's really loud, and kind of rude, so I wouldn't be surprised if she hung up the phone on you." "Red I just want to know how he's doing I don't want to pick a fight with her or anything I just need to know that he's okay and that they're really coming." "They're going to come and he's doing fine, Kitty called earlier today. You know how women are, can't keep their business to themselves and talk about every damn thing they can think of. Stop being a dumb ass and wait until they come." _Be Zen. Don't let the disappointment show. Only two more days and you'll see them. "_Whatever you say." With that, Hyde stood up and started to make his way to the garage. _I need to get the hell out of here for a few hours. Where's the nearest bar?_

**Chicago- 8:30:**

Jackie struggles to open the door to her apartment with a sleeping Stevie on one hand and grocery bags in the other. Once she enters her apartment she notices the mess that still remained from when Stevie was playing the previous night. She sets down the groceries down gently in the kitchen so as to not wake up Stevie. She stops midway to setting the bags down, however, when he starts turning his head on her shoulders. She smiles at him realizing he is still asleep and proceeds on to set the bag down. She then heads over to his room and lays him down. She watches him in amazement. _He looks so much like Steven. The curly hair, the blue eyes, the smile. I can't deny he's his father's son. _She heads over to her room, pulls out a suitcase, and begins packing her clothes. _Red Christmas dress, brown leather boots, white winter coat, Led Zeppelin shirt. _Jackie holds up the black shirt that she had received from Steven years before on her birthday when they were still dating. She had made sure to store this in the back of her closet just as she had learned to store all memories of him in the back of her mind. However, as she held up the shirt, memories of the day he gave it to her swirled through her mind. _He was so mad that I hadn't turned down Michael's sweater and that I was so excited to wear it and he gave me his favorite shirt. That's when I was first convinced that he loved me. Loved. _She continued looking at it and thought about his scent, his smell, the many times they had spent in each others arms just talking about everything and nothing at the same time. She had cherished the times they had spent together and really thought it her heart that they would be together forever. _You were a stupid girl at the time Jackie, get it out of your head. You and Steven are not meant to be. The only proof that even exist of your relationship is this shirt and your son. _Jackie placed the shirt down and continued packing. _White button up shirt, favorite jeans, striped sweater..._

**Kenosha-11pm**

"Donna, hurry up we have to get everything in the car if we want to make it before nine tomorrow." Eric was trying to stuff everything in his suitcase while trying to rush Donna. _Lightsaber, GI Joe action figure, Comic books for the road. Perfect. _"I'm almost done, I just need to find a way to fit Red's gift into my bag." _Women. _Eric thinks.

**Point Place-December 24th**

Hyde and Mrs. Forman are sitting in the kitchen having breakfast when Red comes in from the family room. "Kitty, Jackie called. She said she might have trouble coming down for Christmas I wasn't really listening so I don't know why but she said to tell you." Hyde looked up from his plate. "What? She has to come. Why is she not coming?" "I just said I don't know get your head out of your ass and pay attention and pass the syrup." "Red, stop it. Steven sweetie, I'll call Jackie after breakfast and ask her why she's not coming tomorrow, okay?" Kitty knew how important her arrival was for Hyde. He desperately wanted to meet his son, and she knew that he desperately wanted to see Jackie again. "I don't see why we can't just let her stay n Chicago, that's one less person we have to feed." Red said from behind his paper. Hyde was ready to argue with Red but knew it would make no difference. _If Jackie doesn't want to come, then what can you do about it? No, stop it, she has to come. _"Mrs. Forman, will it be alright if, um... I can speak to her?" Kitty smiled "I'm sure she wouldn't mind sweetie."

**Chicago-9:30 am**

Jackie was laying in bed with Stevie still sleeping at her side. Her boss had called earlier telling her to take the day off since she was taking an earlier flight out to New York to spend Christmas Eve's with her family. _Finally, a day off! _As Jackie flipped through the television channels, the phone on her bedside table began to ring. She answered it quickly to avoid Stevie getting up. "Hello?" Jackie looks at Stevie to make sure he is still asleep. "Hi Mrs. Forman. I called earlier and Mr. Forman said you were preparing breakfast." Stevie was now waking up due to her talking on the phone. Jackie smiled down at him as he rubbed his eyes trying to focus on his surroundings. "I just don't think I can do it Mrs. Forman, I'm not ready to face him yet, that's why I'm not sure I can make it tomorrow." Stevie is now sitting up and takes the remote control from Jackie's lap while waiting for her to get off the phone. Jackie looks over at him and he smiles at her. _He looks more and more like Steven everyday. _"Mrs. Forman, I'll try to make it I promise."

**Point Place:**

"Please do Jackie sweetie, it wouldn't be Christmas if you weren't here with my little grandson." "Mrs. Forman, can I talk to her now?" Kitty looks at Hyde who is sitting anxiously waiting to talk to Jackie. "Jackie honey, Steven wants to talk to you if it's okay with you." Hyde shifts his feet nervously hoping Jackie does not deny him this. After what seemed like a century, Kitty gives the phone to Hyde and walks out of the kitchen to give him some privacy. "Hey Jackie." _Don't be nervous. _"How are you and Stevie doing?" _Be Zen man. Zen. _"Jackie, please come tomorrow. This really means a lot to me and I've been looking forward to meeting him every since I found out." _She's on the phone, she has no power over you. _"Jackie, I would rather talk about this in person. Please just come." _Convince her man, this is about your son. _"Damn it Jackie, don't do this okay? No, don't hang...." _DAMN IT! _Hyde slammed down the receiver and stormed out of the kitchen. _Where the hell did I put that stash?_

**Chicago:**

"Mommy, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Jackie quickly wiped her tears away. "Nothing baby, I'm just really happy because Christmas is tomorrow!" _Why would he do this now. Damn you Steven, why do you have to complicate things now? _Stevie gives Jackie a hug and flashes her a smile before heading to his own bedroom. Jackie picks up the phone and dials Donna's number. "This is Donna Pinciotti-Forman. I'm sorry I missed your call, but leave a message and I will make sure to call you back as soon as possible." "Hey Donna, it's me Jackie. I really have to talk to you, please call me as soon as you hear this message. I need your help."


	8. Coming back home

**Eric's Car- December 24****rd: ****12:23pm:**

"Eric, it's not my fault we're not going to get there before nine, you were the one who overslept." "Well, Donna, I told you to set the alarm because I was watching the Star Wars marathon and was not going to wake up early, come on, keep up." Donna glared at Eric and rolled her eyes. She then looks at her phone and realizes she has a missed call. She listens to her messages, and immediately calls Jackie back. "Hey, what's going on?" Ash Jackie is telling her about her conversation with Hyde and her indecisiveness about going to Point Place for Christmas, Donna looks over at Eric who is swaying back and forth while humming the Star Wars opening theme song. _How has he not grown out of this phase yet? God he can be such a dork sometimes. _"I hate to say it, but I'm on his side. I think it's time you get this over with. It's been five years and it's only going to get harder and harder if you continue avoiding it. Besides, Stevie should not have to grow up without a father just because you guys can't be adults and set aside you differences...ERIC! Please stop humming!...Sorry Jackie, but you know what the right thing to do is. I know he hurt you, but he at least deserves to know his kid...Okay, call me when you decide." Eric pulls over at the gas station. "Jackie's not coming for Christmas?" he asks Donna while turning off the ignition. "She hasn't decided yet. She doesn't think she's ready to face Hyde yet." "It's been five years, how much more time does she need?" "I don't know Eric, I think it's harder because it has been five years and she has a new life now and he's not part of it." As Eric begins opening the door to put gas in the car, he looks at Donna and says "It's time Donna. You and I know that it's time." As he closed the door, Donna stared down at her phone. _12:52. It was that time five years ago. _

**Point Place- 1:48pm**

The Vista Cruiser pulls into the driveway and Kitty comes running out with a huge smile on her face. "My baby!" she runs over to Eric and gives him a huge hug "I've missed you so much. Donna sweetie how are you?" Red comes out, arms folded across his chest. "Hey mom. Dad. Is it just me, or are you growing some hair?" Eric asks Red while laughing. "HA HA HA. Smart mouth. Stop being such a dumb ass and help me carry these bags inside." As Eric and Red walk into the house, Donna and Kitty watch them laughing. "Donna honey, it's really good to see you. How have you been?" Both begin to walk into the kitchen. "Really good Mrs. Forman. Still taking classes at college and working at the station." "That's good to hear sweetie. Well listen, have you heard from Jackie? She called earlier saying she might not make it." "Yeah, she called me and told me. I told her she should come though because Hyde should meet Stevie." "Oh Donna, can you go talk to Steven for me please? That poor boy has been in the basement ever since I told him Jackie might stay in Chicago tomorrow. My poor baby is so sad." "I'll go talk to him Mrs. Forman, don't worry." "Oh thank you Donna. You go on now honey while I finish baking this apple pie."

**In the basement:**

Donna walks down the stairs and finds Hyde sitting in his usual chair, staring at the T.V. His hands are crossed in front of him and his sunglasses mask the sadness Mrs. Forman had spoken about. "Hey Hyde, long time no see buddy." Hyde glances quickly over his shoulder and turns back to the T.V. "Hey man, what's up?" "Oh nothing much. You know, same old things, school, the station, Eric." Hyde simply nodded but still refused to look at Donna. "So I heard about Jackie possibly staying in Chicago for Christmas." She noticed him tensing up but could still not get a response. "Look, Hyde, if it's any help, I told her she should come so you could meet Stevie." He turns to look at her, unfolds his arms and turns his body towards her direction. "Well it doesn't help Donna because Jackie's not going to come. You know what else doesn't help? The fact that everyone in this god damn house, the people who are supposed to be my friends, my family, knew that I had a son. That Jackie and I had a son together but couldn't be bothered to let _me _know that." Donna was shocked but she couldn't be angry with his response. She knew he would confront them about it sooner or later. "Listen, We wanted to tell you but Jackie wouldn't let us. We thought that maybe she would tell you and when she didn't we told her that we could tell you for her, but all she said was she'd do it herself when she was ready. We didn't want to keep this from you, but that's what she wanted." "Donna, you know how important this is for me because I was raised without a father. You know I did not want to be like Bud. You should have told me. You know the right thing to do would have been to tell me, but you kept that from me, and I can't forgive you for that." As Donna was about to respond, Eric walks down the stairs with Fez. "Hyde, my white American friend, it is so good to see you." says Fez. "Get bent" replies Hyde as he gets up from his chair and walks over to his small basement room. "What the hell is his problem?" asks Eric. "He's mad because we didn't tell him about Stevie." "Does he know that she told us not to tell him?" "Yes Eric, but he says he can't forgive us for not telling him anyways. I feel so bad." "Ai" says Fez "this is not going to be a merry Christmas." A few minutes later while the gang is sitting around in the basement, the door barges open and Kelso walks in carrying a mound of wrapped gifts. "Guys, a little help here." Once they put the gifts down, the greeted Kelso and sat back down. "Man it's so good to be back. I mean those playboy chicks are awesome man, but once you've seen twenty boobs, they all pretty much look the same after a while, know what I mean?" Donna rolls her eyes and Eric just refuses to answer. "Lucky son of a bitch." says Fez. Kelso finally realizes that the gang is not all there. "Hey man where are Jackie and Hyde?" "Jackie's still in Chicago and Hyde's in his room." "Still in Chicago?" "Yeah, she doesn't know if she's coming down or not." "Oh man that blows" says Kelso. "And Hyde is mad because of Stevie" says Fez. "Wait! Hyde knows?" Kelso is shocked. "Yeah man. He's mad at us for not telling him." "Well that's just not acceptable. I just got here man, he can't be mad at me. I mean, look at me, how can you be mad at me? I'm going back there." Kelso begins getting up when Donna stopped him. "Kelso, don't be a dillhole. Hyde is really mad and if you go back there he's just gonna kick your ass." "No he won't man, me and Hyde are like brothers." Kelso proceeds towards Hyde's room and within a few seconds "Ow my eye" is heard outside. _Dillhole._ Thinks Donna.

**Kitchen-8:00pm**

The gang, Red and Kitty are sitting around the kitchen table eating dinner. Eric is filling in Kitty about his students while Red looks on looking very uninterested. Donna and Fez laugh as Kelso struggles to cut his meat properly. Hyde, however, is focuses his attention on his food. "Steven, what the hell is wrong with you? You're not being loud like the rest of these dumbasses." Hyde merely shrugs and continues looking down. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Everyone at the table stiffened and looked over at Hyde to see his reaction. He knew they would look at him so he managed to keep himself cool, calm and collected. _Don't look anxious man, be Zen. They're expecting you to be anxious and nervous but be cool. _Kitty gets up from the table and begins walking into the family room and everyone but Hyde and Donna follow her. "Hyde, come on" says Donna. _Guys. So Stubborn. _Almost as though he doesn't want to get up, Hyde rises from his seat and follows Donna into the living room. While on the surface he looks completely unaffected by the ringing bell, his heartbeat felt heavy, his stomach was doing flips and his vision seemed to blur. _Don't pass out. That's not the kind of attention you want to draw to yourself. That's not the way you want them to see you. _Everyone stood around the living room waiting to see who was on the other side. Kitty finally opens the door. "Sweetie, hi! Oh I've missed you so much, come in, come in."


	9. Dumbass

**Forman Living room-8pm**

A very pregnant blond stands in the doorway with a huge smile on her face. "Mommy, Daddy, Eric! Oh I've missed you guys so much." Laurie Forman has not changed. Will _never _change. Her evil smile is plastered on her fair as she waddles into the house. She is seven months pregnant with her boyfriend Chuck's baby. They had only been together for two weeks when Laurie got pregnant and were often arguing. The most recent argument had to do with the choice of Laurie's clothing. It was no surprise that would cause problems between the two seeing as Laurie was standing with a midriff top, a red mini-skirt, and black leather knee high boots, definitely not an appropriate outfit for the weather, let alone for a seven month pregnant woman. As everyone gathered around to rub Laurie's belly, Hyde sat on the sofa couch, disappointed. Kelso turned over to him. "Hey, Hyde man, wanna go outside to talk?" Though hesitant at first. Hyde got up and followed Kelso to the Forman's front porch. "Hey, man look," Kelso started, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. We all wanted to tell you but Jackie said she would tell you and, well, you know man, Jackie can be scary when she means business. We just thought she would tell you sooner, not five years later." Hyde stared straight ahead. _Enough with the apologizing. I'm sick and tired of the I couldn't tell you bullshit. _"Well why didn't you tell me when you saw she hadn't told me?" "Well damn Hyde, I just told you, I didn't want to get into it. Hyde was done with accepting people's apologies. He was sick of saying "okay" or "whatever" whenever someone told him how sorry they were. He just wanted to know about his so and how Jackie was doing and whether or not they would come. "Kelso man, I know you met him. What's he like?" "Oh man dude, that kid is AWESOME. He's like Jackie. Well no, wait, he's not bossy or loud. Actually, he kind of reminds me of you." This made Hyde's heart swell with joy. "Really?" "Yeah man, he has the hair and the glasses." "He has glasses?" _Maybe she wanted him to be like me. But why would she after how much I hurt her? _"Yeah man. He's just...COOL. You'll just have to meet him." "I don't know if I will, Jackie said she might not come down here." "Yeah man, I heard . Look I'm sure she'll do the right thing." Both men stand silently on the porch, looking straight ahead at the passing cars.

**Forman living room:**

Kitty, Red, Laurie, Donna, Eric and Fez are sitting around talking about Laurie's plans for the baby. "If it's a boy, Chuck wants to name him Gene, like Gene Simmons you know. If it's a girl we decided to name her Farrah." "Oh... well those are very um, creative names Laurie" replies Kitty. "Ai Laurie, if only we were still married and you would have done it with me instead of those other guys you did it with we would have brown, sexy babies with your beautiful silky hair and my sultry foreign accent." "Over my dead body. There would be no way my daughter would have a kid by a dumbass foreign kid." Donna and Eric both laugh as Fez begins to unwrap his new piece of candy, looking very intimidated. The phone begins to ring and Kitty reaches over to answer it. "Oh, Hi Jackie sweetie how are you?...Oh?" At this point, Kelso and Hyde walk into the family room "I see...I understand... Okay..Talk to you later then...bye."Everyone was silent for a while until Donna finally broke the silence. "What did Jackie say Mrs. Forman?" At the mentioning of Jackie's name, Hyde's muscled stiffened. "Well, um.. She said she wasn't coming." She quickly turned to Hyde. "I'm so sorry Steven. She said she isn't ready to face you just yet and to tell you that she is really sorry." "She's sorry? That's all she can say, that she's sorry? Mrs. Forman, No this is not okay. I need to go there and find them." Donna stood up. "Hyde, I know you're upset but going to Chicago and confronting her is not a good idea. Just give her time." "Time Donna, she's had five years! Why can't no one see that I'm not the bad guy here? All I want to do is meet my son God damn it." He pushes everyone out of the way and walks out of the house. Kitty turns to look at Red. "Red, we have to do something, this simply can not go on." "Kitty, I told you not to get involved when you told him about Stevie. You made this mess you clean it up." "Red Forman, you go do something NOW!" Red gets up from his seat, grumbling, walks towards the door and slams it behind him.

**Outside**

Hyde is walking as fast as his feet allow him to. He clutches his jacket closer to him as a gust of wind picks up. _How can she do this? _"Steven" _He is my son and I have the right to meet him. _"Steven!" _Dammit Jackie is this your way at getting back at me for Sam? _"STEVEN!" "WHAT?" Hyde turns abruptly to face Red who is walking fast trying to catch up to him. When Red is finally close enough to Hyde, he notices tears forming in Hyde's eyes. "Don't you dare start crying. Now you be a man and pull yourself together damn it. Yelling at pushing people isn't going to make anything better so GET YOUR SELF TOGETHER AND STOP BEING A DUMBASS." Taken aback from the unexpected reacting coming from Red, Hyde remains silent. "Now Jackie made a decision to not come. You be a man and deal with that decision." "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE OKAY WITH IT RED? THIS IS MY KID WE ARE TALKING ABOUT" "I know who we're talking about but you can't just take off to Chicago and show up there. She is NOT ready to see you. When she is, she'll let you meet him." "Red, you don't know what it's like. You can't stand here and lecture me about being rational because you've never been in my place." "No, I've been fortunate to not have ever been in your position, but if any a time to be rational, this is it. Look, you know Jackie better than any of us in there do so just give her a call if you really want to talk to her, but do NOT go to Chicago." Hyde knows that he can not promise this but does anyways just to stop the lecture from continuing. He was tired of everyone making excuses for Jackie and telling him to wait. He couldn't wait. They had no idea what it is like to wonder everyday about the five year old son you haven't met. "Whatever Red."

**Chicago-Jackie's Diary:**

_December 24th, 1985:_

_I did the right thing. I know I did and even though it doesn't feel like it, I can't just face him yet, I can't just bring Steven into Stevie's life and confuse him. He'll just have to wait until Stevie is old enough to understand what this. I can't just bring him back into my life after everything we've been through, after how much we hurt each other. I can't afford to be hurt again but most importantly, I can't allow him to hurt my son. Who's to say he won't choose something else over Stevie, just like he chose Sam over me? No, I'll stop thinking about this, I have to stop thinking about this because it's all in my past. It doesn't matter because I don't love him anymore. I don't love you anymore Steven Hyde. _

**Point Place-Christmas morning- 8:30am**

Donna, Kitty and Laurie are sitting in the kitchen when they hear a car pulling into the driveway. They get up to see who it is and are taken aback when they see a black Delorean parking just outside the Forman's garage. "Is that..."Laurie begins to ask. "Yes!!! It's JACKIE! Oh my God it's Jackie!!" Kitty answers while jumping up and down clapping her hands. Donna is standing next to Laurie smiling. _I knew you would do the right thing Jackie_. When Jackie finally parks the car, Stevie runs out to hug Kitty. "Grandma Forman!" "Oh hi honey, look how big you are!" As Stevie goes on to hug the other two women, Kitty walks over to Jackie who is carrying a huge bag filled with gifts. "Jackie! I'm so glad you showed up! It's finally Christmas." Jackie just smiles and looks towards Donna. "Hey Jackie" Donna says smiling. Jackie smiles back and nods knowing what Donna is thinking. "Hey Donna." "Thanks" Donna says. Jackie's smile becomes more serious as she watches Kitty walk with Stevie into the house. "I figured it was time you know?" Donna simply nodded her head and proceeds to walk towards the house with Laurie following behind her. Jackie stands outside for a few more minutes looking around at the place she had spend so many of her childhood years laughing with her friends, arguing with her boyfriends, making love to Hyde... _Crying, getting your heart broken. Yeah so many good memories in this place. _Jackie sighs and begins to walk inside. _Time to face the music. _

**Hyde's basement room- 9:17am:**

Laying awake looking up at the ceiling, Hyde argues about whether or not he should get up. He was going to when he heard a car pull up into the drive way but just figured it was either Eric or Kelso coming to drop off their gifts so he decided against getting up. He didn't have much energy to do so even if he wanted to. All he had been thinking about was that today was Christmas day and that he wasn't going to be able to meet his son because Jackie was not ready to face him just yet. Though he understood why she would be afraid to see him after five years, he couldn't help but be angry at her because she knew that this was bigger than any problems they had. _This isn't about Sam or another one of our stupid arguments, this is about a kid we made together and should have equal opinions as to how he should be raised. _However, what Kelso told him the night before made him smile slightly. _He's like me man, she raised him to be like me._ He could imagine a kid that looked like Jackie but had his curly hair and wore sunglasses just like he did. _I guess everyone else is up_ Hyde thought as he could hear voices coming from above him. _They must all be in the family room having breakfast or something. _ After about ten more minutes of of just laying down, Hyde finally decides to get ready to face the group of people upstairs.

**Kitchen-9:34am:**

The women are sitting around drinking coffee. "Oh Jackie honey I'm so glad you came. You don't know how happy Steven's going to be." Jackie became tense as soon as she heard Hyde's name. Donna seemed to be the only one to take notice, but that's because this was the reaction she expected from her friend. "What made you change your mind Jackie?" Laurie asked. "Just thought it was the right thing to do you know? Besides, I think Stevie should meet Steven. He's old enough. Right?" Jackie responded apprehensively. She had thought about coming back after she wrote in her diary and decided that her son needed a father and he had the right to have a normal life and that she had to set aside her emotions and realize that whatever was best for her son is more important than her stupid pride. "Oh yes sweetie, I think you made the right decision."

**living room:**

As Hyde is coming up the stairs from the basement into the living room, he can here Eric, Red, Fez and Kelso yelling at the T.V. _Must be watching sports._ "Damn Packers better win this game" he can hear Red saying while Eric is cheering "Bears...Bears..Bears." "Eric, if you don't shut up I'm going to stick my foot so far up you ass you'll be cheering from the stands." Fez and Kelso are laughing obnoxiously. The men finally realize that Hyde is in the room. "Steven, stop standing around. You're almost as weird as Eric." "HEY!" Eric protested. Hyde looks around the room and sees that among the four guys is a small boy wearing a Packer's Jersey and sunglasses that very much resemble his own. Hyde stood frozen, Red's words hardly being heard. His heartbeat speeds up, his pulse quickens and his body temperature felt as though it had risen fifty degrees. _Could it be? _"Hey, Hyde" says Kelso as he's standing up, "why don't you come over here and meet Stevie." Hyde looks at a Kelso who is grinning like an idiot. _It is. That's his son. She brought him. She's here. _Still unable to move, Hyde stares at the small boy a few feet away from him. His curly hair the same as his and his eyes were covered by sunglasses which prevented Hyde to see his eyes. _He does look like me._ Hyde, still frozen, stares as Stevie walks over to him, extends his hand and says "hey, I'm Stevie. Cool shirt." Hyde stares down at his Zeppelin shirt and smiles. He reaches out to shake Stevie's hand. _Kid's got good taste. _


	10. Keep on Keeping on

A/N: _I do not own That 70's or its characters. The song titles which are in bold face are Led Zeppelin songs and I take no credit for them. _

Hyde reaches out to shake Stevie's hand. "I'm Hyde. So I take it you like Zeppelin?" Stevie tries his hardest to get a good grip on Hyde's hand but the size difference makes it hard for him to provide a stern handshake. "Yeah. Me and mommy tell cool stories with their song titles, wanna hear one?" Hyde looked down at Stevie and was not shocked to see his ability to speak at warp speed. _Definitely Jackie's son _he thinks. Having forgotten he'd been asked a question, Hyde returns from his daze and answers yes. "On the** Stairway to heaven **I saw a **black dog** wearing a** kashmir s**weater as his owner continuedto** ramble on **about **the battle of evermore**." Having incorporated these song titles in a somewhat respectable manner, for a five year old anyway, Stevie beamed with pride.

Hyde could not help but laugh. "That's really good little man, did you come up with that yourself?" asked Hyde as he started walking towards the couch. "No, my mommy helped me" answered Stevie as he followed Hyde. Red motioned to Kelso, Fez and Eric to leave the room to give Hyde some time alone with his son. Hyde, noticing this, nodded towards Red's direction as a thanks. "What's your name?" Hyde looks at Stevie and realizes he didn't tell the kid his name. "Oh, um..Hyde." "Hyde? That's a cool name, I've never met a Hyde before." _He talks almost as much as Jackie. _"I doubt you will."

They were quiet for a few awkward minutes until Donna walks into the living room. She smiles at Hyde. _It's about time _she thinks. "Hey Stevie honey, your mom asked me to give you a shower before you have lunch." "Okay aunt Donna." He begins to get up from the couch and walks towards Donna but then turns around to look at Hyde. "Hey Hyde?" "Yeah?" "Will you be here later?" Hyde smiled. "Yeah little man, I'll be here." "Okay, cool." Hyde looks up at Donna and sees that she is smiling at him. He smiles back at her but he can't help but to let his mind linger to Jackie. _It's only a matter of time before I have to see her. _With that thought in mind, he got up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen.

A/N: I know this chapter is a lot shorter than the usual ones, but it's finals week so I've been pretty busy studying, but I have not given up on this story so keep reading =)


	11. Enough is Enough

As Hyde walks through the swinging doors, he sees Kitty sitting by the table with a drink in her hands. "Mrs. Forman?" Not having realized his entrance, Kitty jumps up from the shock. "Oh Steven, you scared me." "Sorry. What's going on, you don't usually whip up a drink until about 12" he responds with a smirk. Laughing sarcastically, Kitty says "very funny Steven. Donna told me you met him already? Want to talk about it?" "Not much to talk about" Kitty proceeds to take a seat.

Kitty looks at him with a very concerned look on her face and motions him towards the table at the seat next to hers. Once he sits, she turns to him and for a few minutes remains silent and stares at the man he has become. "Steven honey...did everything go alright?" Hyde simply nodded. He didn't feel like talking about it just yet. He didn't want to tell her how amazing he thought Stevie was but how disappointed he was at himself for not having been a part of his life. He didn't want to admit how proud he was of Jackie for having raised such an incredible child. Most of all, he didn't want to admit how wrong he had been for letting her go. "Mrs. Forman, no offense, but I really don't want to talk about it." Kitty nods and smiles. She stands and does one of her infamous shakes. "Okay, well let me get you something to eat you must be starving. How about a sandwich?" Hyde smiles. "Sure. Sounds good."

As she walks over to the counter Kitty lets out a sigh of relief. _Thank God Jackie went over to Donna's when she did. Had she waited another minute, they would have seen each other and I'm sure they're not quite ready yet._

**Pinciotti's House:**

"Mr. Pinciotti" Jackie calls out to Bob. After sending Donna to bathe Stevie, Jackie decided to go over to the Pinciotti's to see one of the two people she had yet to see. "Mr. Pinciotti" she calls out again to the man who acted as a father and took her in when she needed it the most. When he finally walks through the doors, Bob's face lights up and he yells "Hey there! Hi there! Ho there!" and walks over to Jackie and engulfs her in an embrace. "Hey Mr. Pinciotti." Letting go of her, Bob continues speaking loudly. "Jackie! How the heck have you been? Wheres the little guy?" he asks while looking around for Stevie. "I'm good and he's over at the Forman's. Donna's cleaning him up."

"How is he doing?" "He's good. Growing up too quickly though" Jackie responds with a frown. Bob puts his arms around her shoulders her and squeezes her shoulders reassuringly. "Don't worry little one, he only gets as old as you and me." Confused, Jackie remains silent knowing this is best. _Same old Bob. _"So..How's that hot mother of yours? She ask about me?" Jackie sighs in frustration. _Definitely same old Bob._

**Forman's basement:**

Hyde walks down the stairs, sandwich in hand, and finds Eric sitting on the edge of the couch with a light saber, Kelso standing by the door trying to balance a pencil on his index finger and Fez sitting on the beach chair with a bag of M&Ms. "Hyde man" Kelso was the first to notice him "check out my cool new trick." He is still trying to balance the pencil unsuccessfully. "Yeah Kelso, great trick" says Hyde sarcastically as he sits on his chair. Fez begins to choke on M&Ms and instead of trying to help him, the three other men look at him in disgust for having stuffed so many of them in his mouth. A few seconds later, when he finally stops choking he abruptly gets up. "Well you sons of bitches just stare. I could have died!" "Fez," says Eric "you're being a little dramatic buddy, you weren't going to die" "It'd be funny as hell if he did though" said Kelso who had finally given up on his pencil trick. "OH SUURE! I see how it is, let the foreigner die. Well now I know what kind of friends you are. Good day!" "But Fez" "I SAY GOOD DAY" he says and walks out of the basement, slamming the door on his way out.

Once Fez makes his exit, Eric turns to Hyde. "So how did it go with Stevie?" Hyde shrugs his shoulders. Kelso jumps over the couch to sit in the corner closest to Hyde. "Isn't he awesome man. Look he gave me this bruise" he says while showing Hyde a bruise Stevie left on his leg while they were playing hide-and-go-seek. Hyde smirks and Eric rolls his eyes and continues to pry. "Hyde man, how are you feeling, I mean this is your son." "Forman look, I'm not a pansy ass I don't share my feelings, how many times do we have to go over that?" "Fine man, but you are going to want to talk and when you do...don't come looking for me because I offered and you? You declined." Eric responded with many hand gestures and an exit more dramatic than Fez's if that were even possible.

Hyde rolled his eyes behind his shades and looked over at Kelso. "You gonna leave too or wanna talk about feelings?" Kelso furrowed his brow. "No way man, that's for nancy boys like Eric and well...chicks."

Both remain silent for a while until Hyde uncharacteristically breaks the silence. "She did a good job with him." Kelso nods his head is agreement. "Yeah man, that kid is badass" Once again silence overcomes the room only to be broken again, this time by Kelso. "You talked to Jackie yet?" Hyde shakes his head and crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Haven't even seen her man." Kelso opens his mouth to say something and then decides against it. He merely tilts his head back and places his hands behind it. The silent remained unbroken this time.

**Laurie's Room: **

Donna is laying out clothes for Stevie who is running around the room in a towel. "Auntie Donna?" Donna goes over to him, picks him up and stands him on the bed to dry him off. "Yeah?" "When time is Santa coming?" Donna smiles. "He's coming as soon as you go to bed and when you wake up tomorrow there's going to be tons of gifts under the tree." She pulls his shirt over his head. "Under the tree? But he can't put my gift under the tree." Looking confused Donna asks him what he wished for.

"I can't say because then Santa won't bring it." _Kids. So innocent. _Donna thinks. "Of course he will, you've been a good boy this year right?" Stevie nods and contemplates on whether or not he should tell Donna what he wished for and finally decides to go for it. He looks down at his feet as a frown forms on his face. "I wish for a daddy." Donna's eyes widen in shock and are filled with sadness. _Poor kid. _"Tell ya what, I promise you Santa's going to give you just that." "How do you know?" Having properly clothed him and lowering him from the bed, Donna responds "trust me, I know he will."

Both leave the room. Stevie on the lookout for Fez, otherwise known as "the brown guy with the candy" while Donna searched for Jackie. _Enough is enough._


	12. More credit is due

**Over at the Pinciotti's**:

Donna walks into the kitchen and finds Jackie and Bob talking while drinking tea. "Oh hey Donna, can you help me with my perm later, you know, gotta stay foxy for the ladies" says Bob while winking towards Donna's direction with a cheesy smile. "Um...maybe later dad. Can I talk to Jackie?" Seeing that Bob isn't getting the picture she adds "Alone?" "Oh fine, I know when I'm not wanted" he says while proceeding to walk out of the kitchen.

Hearing Donna sigh, Jackie looks up from her cup of tea and looks at her waiting for her to begin talking. After what seemed like an eternity, Donna finally did. "Jackie," she started and considered taking a seat but decided against it realizing height would make her more intimidating "you have to talk to Hyde." Jackie's reaction was just the one she had expected, bewilderment with a mix of stubbornness and surprise. "Donna, why are you telling me this?"

Still towering over Jackie, Donna begins. "Do you know what your son wished Santa would bring him for Christmas?" Not waiting for an answer, she briefly answered her own question "he wished for a father." Acknowledging the look of horror in Jackie's face, Donna finally takes a seat. "How do you know that?" asks Jackie. "He told me when I was getting him ready. Jackie, this is taking a huge toll on him and you and Hyde need to put whatever problems you have aside for the sake of your son." Jackie quietly sips her tea as tears begin to form in her eyes. "Donna, I don't think I'm ready to talk to Steven yet,"

Donna, trying to comfort Jackie, cups her hands with her own. "Look, I know it's been a long time since you saw Hyde, but the circumstances are different, they're bigger than any argument you might have had. Stevie's really suffering and I don't think it's fair to keep this up because of a break up that happened years ago." Jackie now begins to bawl hysterically and speaking incoherently. "I ha-had n-n-no idea Do-Do-Donna. How could I not ha-have known? I'm such a horrible mother."

Donna becomes increasingly alarmed by Jackie's sudden outburst. "You are not a bad mother Jackie, you raised a wonderful child. Alone. But you can't do it alone anymore and no matter how much you may hate it, the only person who can help you is Hyde. So you need to go talk to him." Jackie nods. "I hate it when you're right." Donna smiles lightly as Jackie begins to get up. She smooths down her shirt, wipes the remaining tears from her eyes and asks, "where's Steven now?"

**Forman's basement:**

Hyde, Kelso and Eric are once again sitting in the basement for about the tenth time that day. Fez had gone off to share "sugary goodies" with Stevie. The basement's overwhelming quietness is suddently interrupted by thumping footsteps and the ever-so-familiar voice of a once-red-headed blond. "Eric, Kelso can you guys come up here for a second?" "Shhh.." starts Kelso "maybe if we're really quiet she'll go away." Eric and Hyde look at their idiotic friend but remain silent. "ERIC! KELSO! COME UP HERE!" Donna insists. "Kelso, lets just go." says Eric. "Man, no fair, why doesn't Hyde come?" "Because she didn't ask me to go Einstein" Getting up, Kelso shoots a look at Hyde. "Why does every one _call me that_. For the last time my name is not Einstein, it's Kelso." Eric furrows his brown and Hyde rolls his eye at the realization that their friend truly is dumber than they gave him credit for. As the two men go upstairs, Hyde returns his gaze towards the television. For a few more minutes everything is silent. "Hello Steven."


	13. Finally, the confrontation

Hyde's heart begins to race and he can't help but to gawk at the woman standing in front of him. Thanking the heavens he has his glasses on, Hyde takes the initiative to get up from his usual seat and walk towards Jackie. Now standing in front of each other, they still remain silent, shifting their feet nervously and thinking of places to place their hands to alleviate their nerves. Still staring at her, Hyde notices that she is doing everything possible to avoid eye contact.

After a few more minutes of silence, Jackie decides to walk around the basement. "Everything looks the same" she said slightly turning back towards him to see his expression. Nothing. He follows her with his eyes while still standing in the same spot. Jackie walks over to the corner where they stored the records. "I see you still like Zeppelin?" Raising an eyebrow, Hyde becomes amused by her attempt at small talk.

Acknowledging defeat, Jackie walks back over to where Hyde is standing. "So... How are you?" Preserving his silence, Hyde looks around the basement and then back at her. "Steven?" "I'm good Jackie" and he walks back over to his chair with Jackie trailing behind him heading towards the couch. "That's good. Um.. How's the store going?"

"Jackie, cut it out with the small talk alright. We need to talk." Sighing, she looks at him. "Fine. Talk" _Definitely didn't think this conversation would start so fast _she thought. "How the hell could you do that? Have my kid and not tell me? How stupid can you be?" he yells at her. "Don't Steven okay? I didn't come here for you to yell at me, I figured I should explain and if you want to talk, fine, but we can have this conversation like adults or we won't have it at all."

"How the hell did you think this would go Jackie? Were you expecting flowers and chocolates while we talked about you not telling me I've had a son for five years?" Sitting closer to the edge of the couch, Jackie begins to get defensive. "NO! I didn't expect you to be happy about it, but I already told you I'm not going to have a screaming fest with you. I agree that what I did was not the best decision to make, but I had my reasons for doing it."

"I don't see what good enough reason you can have to justify what you did." Remembering that he is the king of Zen, Hyde tries to regain his composure, which have been nonexistent as he found himself yelling at her. Frustratingly running his hands through his hair and thinking of what to say next, Hyde lets out a loud sigh.

"Jackie. You knew how important this is to me. You of all people knew me best and how my childhood was. I told you time and time again that if or when I had a kid I would make sure it would have a father there and then you pull some shit like that? And five years later I find out from Mrs. Forman? Where you even planning on telling me about it?"

Having had relax a bit more and now sitting further back on the couch, Jackie answers "eventually...yeah." "Eventually? When would that have been? Ten, twenty, fifty years from now?...Why did you even do it?"

"How was I supposed to tell you Steven?" "YOU COULD HAVE JUST TOLD ME STEVEN I'M PREGNANT, SIMPLE. WE WOULD HAVE FIGURED IT OUT FROM THERE!" he yells.

"WHO? YOU, ME AND YOUR WIFE WOULD HAVE FIGURED IT OUT? IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT. PEOPLE DON'T GO UP TO MARRIED MEN AND TELL THEM THEY'RE PREGNANT WITH THEIR KID. CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW EMBARASSING THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN?"

Abruptly taking off his sunglass he takes a step towards her. "DON'T BRING SAM INTO THIS. AND THIS IS BIGGER THAN YOUR PRIDE JACKIE. YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN OVER IT BUT NOW I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT MY KID WENT FIVE YEARS WITHOUT ME. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE? NO YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY KNOW."

"Steven, can we talk about it like _adults. _Screaming isn't going to solve anything." Retaking his seat, Hyde agrees. "Fine. Why don't you tell me why you did something so stupid." "It wasn't stupid at the time. When I found out I had every intention of telling you. When you came back from Las Vegas I was going to tell you and I thought we would be able to work it out and then..." Hyde took his eyes off her and directed his gaze to the floor before saying "Sam?"

Jackie nodded her head yes. "I was so hurt and so mad that you didn't come after me when she came. You just stayed behind and then acted as though everything was fine...and then she stayed. Do you know how hurt I was? You had thrown everything we worked for and chose her over me. I gave you everything Steven.." tears were now beginning to form in Jackie's eyes and she struggled to talk "...and you couldn't even promise me a future together, but you married her."

Starting to feel sorry for her and trying to think of what to say to prevent her from crying, Hyde could only think of justifying his decision to keep Sam around. "Jackie..to be fair, I was drunk in Vegas. I didn't remember Sam much less getting married and after what happened in Chicago...Our relationship just was not going to be the same." Hoping that these were the right words to say, Hyde could have not been more wrong. This only angered Jackie.

"So what we had wasn't important enough for you to fight for it? It was better for you to keep some stripper around than try to work things out with me?" "That's not what I said Jackie." "You didn't have to say it, you just showed that you're a coward and a quitter. Look, I don't even care okay, this is about my son. I couldn't stay here and raise him with a father who married a stripper and I couldn't stay here watching you parade around with that whore, so I left."

"That's not a good enough excuse. Try again." Looking disgusted, Jackie began to get up. "I'm not looking for excuses to feed you Steven, that's what happened. I needed to get out of here and that's what I did. The longer I was away from you, the harder it was to tell you about Stevie. I had a new life and I was happy I couldn't risk you coming in and ruining that for my son's sake."

"So why now Jackie. What makes this a good time?" Looking intently at him, Jackie replies, "because he needs you now, and I can't do this myself anymore." With that, she exits the basement, leaving many questions unanswered for Hyde. Being left dumbfounded and with a lot of unanswered questions, Hyde runs up the stairs after her.

"Jackie..Jackie hold on. I'm not done yet" he says when he finally enters the family room and sees her sitting about to open the front door. Rolling her eyes and turning around to look at him, Jackie gestures for him to go on, but he sees that tears are now all over her face. Confused as to what to do, Hyde decides to let down the guard he's been building from day one. He walks over to Jackie, and with a sadness washing over him as he gets closer to her, he wraps her arms around her, allowing her to crash into his arms and let all the tears go.

"Shhh," he said trying to comfort her, "come on lets go talk about it okay? promise I won't yell."


	14. Get ready, the talking begins

**Forman's kitchen:**

Eric, Donna and Kelso, all pressing their ears against the door leading out to the family room take a step back as they hear the outside door closing. Kelso heads over to the fridge, Fez walks over to the other side of the counter and Donna and Eric go towards the table. "Man, Hyde's going to KILL her" yells Kelso. "Hyde's not going to _kill _her you idiot, they're just going to talk" replies Eric. "Well I don't know about you Big Red, but if I had a son for five years and Jackie didn't tell me, I'd kill her...AFTER WE DID IT!" "Moron."

**El Camino:**

Driving in silence was getting Hyde anxious. It has been a little over five minutes since he started his trip to a quiet place in Point Place and neither one had done or said anything. He glanced over at her a few times and saw her sniffling, trying to regain her composure. He couldn't help but feel guilty about making her cry _for the hundredth time _he thought. But another part of him reminded him that she had kept a huge secret from one and he had every right to be angry at her.

Looking over once more, he can tell that she is only getting more nervous by the way she shuffles her hands, sniffles a lot more, and constantly runs her fingers through her hair. He smiles sadly a bit and remembers how things used to be when they used to drive around silently so many years ago, but under different circumstances. When they were together, they were silent because they cherished the silence that allowed them time to think about the future, the past, the present. Now, they were silent because they were strangers to each other.

A few minutes later, Jackie saw a sign that read _Inspiration Point. _Quickly glancing over at him, she notices that his expression has softened. No longer looking deranged and ready to pounce on her, he now wore a calm smile. Looking at him she remembered their first date and how they sat on the hood of the very same car they were in now in similar silence, sharing his pop, and the kiss. _Yeah, it was all so simple then _she thought. _Minimal problems, short disagreements that were resolved by sex. _The car suddenly stopped and they were parked in a secluded, forestry area.

"I think it's better if we stay inside this time. It's kind of cold" said Hyde looking not at her, but at the tree in front of the car. She simply nodded. A few more minutes passed and the most they did was shift around in their seats.

"Do you remember the first time we came here?" The question startled her, almost as though he had read her mind a few minutes before. Again she nodded, and he was now looking at her. "It was good then." She frowned, thinking of all the times where it had not been good. _The nurse, Chicago, "Prince Eduardo." Sam. _"Steven why are you bring-" he cut her off.

"It was good a lot of other times too. You were able to talk to me about stuff you know? That's what first attracted me to you, you weren't scared to talk, no matter how bad things were, you knew just what to say and you would say it."

Still slightly confused as to why he was telling her this, she just waited for him to continue. This took a little while longer, for she could tell he was thinking of what to say next.

"When did that change?" Trying to think of the right words to say to him, Jackie looked outside at the place that held her favorite memory of them. Sure she went back to Kelso after that Veteran's Day, but the safety she had felt while sitting next to Hyde with his hands around her shoulders was what she loved to remember the most. "Was it after Sam?" She shook her head no. "Before that?" She nodded. Now it was her turn to speak.

"It wasn't one thing that changed it. It was everything." "Like what?" Looking back at him she tried to see him as the man she used to know, not the man that sat next to her. "It became so hard to talk to you. All you'd ever say was I don't know or no..." "Hmm" "Or hmm" she said slightly irritated. "You said that our relationship wouldn't be the same after what happened in Chicago...our relationship hadn't been the same since before that." "What do you mean?"

"Steven, all we ever did was argue and problems just started building up and the more we argued, the more our relationship changed and the more it changed the harder it was to talk to you. We never sat down and talked about what was wrong, we just resolved our problems by having sex. Then the whole Chicago thing happened and then Sam...Steven you didn't even fight for us. I couldn't wait around for you anymore. I just had to get out."

"Jackie...Look going to Vegas and everything with Sam was a mistake, but I couldn't put her out on her ass. I didn't want to be that guy, you know? " "Look Steven, I'm not asking you to explain yourself. We had our fun together and now we move on. But we have a child together and I want him to have a father in his life because it's been so hard for him. I want him to know you and I want you to know him because he's a great kid Steven, he really is." "And I'm going to be there for him, okay? I'm going to make up for the time I haven't been there, but unless we solve our problems that's going to be hard for us."

Silence.

Hyde took his glasses off and took Jackie's hand in his. "I never meant to hurt you. I know I did, a lot, and I know I took you for granted, but I always appreciated everything you did for me." Smiling at the look of shock on her face Hyde kissed her hand and reached over to stroke her hair. "I know you weren't expecting me to talk, but we're different people now, we've grown up and we need to talk about things if we're going to raise a son together. "What do you say?" Taking his other hand in hers and placing it on her cheek, Jackie closed her eyes, let out a breath she'd been holding in and says, "I hope you're ready, because I have five years worth of talking to do."

**A/N: Okay, I know Hyde is very out of character what with the whole communicating thing at the end, but I really wanted it to be sweet and make him comfort her...I'm a sucker for love =) Anyways, let me know what you guys think so far, also if you have any suggestions as to what to add to the story please feel free to let me know. Also, all _constructive _criticism is welcomed. **


	15. Spilled the beans

**The Basement:**

"So you see little man, that's why Samantha is hotter than Jeannie" Kelso tells Stevie.

"No way man, you're crazy. Jeannie has that sexy costume. All Samantha does is wiggle her nose, women in my country do that when they have to use the bathroom" says Fez as Stevie looks on very confused.

"Okay, can we not talk about this in front of Stevie?" asks Donna.

"Yeah guys, Jackie would kill us if she were here" adds Eric.

"Where _is_ my mommy uncle Eric?" asks Stevie.

"Oh, don't worry little dude, she went to talk to your dad, she'll be back soon" says Kelso without realizing what he has just said. Once he finally became aware of what he said, Kelso looked around at his friends. Donna was just glaring at him, Eric sat, mouth agape, and Fez just shook his head at his friend's stupidity. Reluctantly, Kelso turned to Stevie whose face showed incredible shock.

"M-My dad?"

**Inspiration Point:**

"So that's when Fez and I decided that we were better off as friends. He stayed with me for a few months helping me with Stevie until I was able to do it on my own. I got a job as an assistant for a TV host and Stevie started school. After that Fez moved back here and it was just me and Stevie from there."

Jackie was filling Hyde in on the last five years of her and her sons lives. Hyde just sat listening intently, and all the while uncomfortable. The thought of Fez helping her raise his child and at the same time sleeping with her angered him. _That should have been me. _

"Fez tried to convince me to tell you about what was going on, but I wasn't ready to face you and I had gotten so accustomed to being without you by that point that I couldn't bring myself to tell you. He really wanted to tell you though. I made him promise me that when he came back he wouldn't tell you what was going on with me."

"So he made up the story about getting a job at a salon in Chicago?" asks Hyde.

"Well he didn't make it up, he did work in a salon, but that wasn't the reason he moved out there like he said. He went to help me out."

"Hmm... So you really didn't need me." Hyde says this in an almost disappointed tone. He was proud that Jackie had been so independent and made her life and their sons life better, but part of him wanted to have been needed, even if he didn't know what had been going on.

Smiling sadly Jackie proceeds, "I was already used to not being with you, so I was able to deal with it pretty well, but there were many times when I wished you were there. Steven, it was so hard." Tears were threatening to escape her eyes, but she continued.

"Being by myself with Stevie in Chicago was the hardest thing I've ever gone through, but that wasn't nearly as hard as having to see him go on without a dad. And then he started school and all the kids' fathers and mothers would take them to school or go to parent's day." Tears were now flowing down her face as she remembered the many times her son had to put on a strong face because he didn't have a father like the other kids.

"They recently had father's day in school, you know, dads go to school with their kids. I didn't know about it Steven, I didn't know. It killed me when he told me after school that day." Jackie was now crying even more. Hyde leaned towards her and cupped her face, wiping away the tears.

"Shh, Jackie. It's okay"

"No, it's not Steven. It's all my fault. I should have just told you, but I was so stupid and it's my fault he had to go through that. He doesn't deserve that Steven, he's such an amazing kid and it's all my fault."

Hyde took Jackie's hands once again. "Listen, you need to stop blaming yourself, okay? Whatever happened, happened. We'll get through this together okay, I won't let you do this by yourself anymore, I promise."

**The Basement:**

An awkward silent still filled the room after Kelso spilled Jackie's secret.

"Um...Stevie...can you go um, tell grandma Kitty that I need to talk to her?" says Donna finally breaking the silence.

Silently, Stevie stands to go up the stairs. Once he left, the others began to yell at Kelso.

"Kelso, you stupid idiot do you realize what you just did?" yells Donna while at the same time hitting him in the back of the head.

"Yes, Kelso, you may be a beautiful stallion, but you are very dumb my friend." adds Fez.

"Jesus Kelso, could you be a bigger idiot? Jackie's going to kill YOU!" says Eric.

"Well damn guys, it just slipped out"

"Yeah well so did this" says Donna while hitting him again in the back of the head.

"DONNA STOP DOING THAT!" yells Kelso. "Look, I didn't know what I was saying, it was like I was thinking about Samantha in Jeannie's costume and the next minute I told him about Hyde. I mean can you blame me? Think about it SAMANTHA IN JEANNIE'S COSTUME MAN!"

"Think about _this _you moron, Jackie's going to KILL YOU!!!"

"You said that already Eric" says Kelso

"Yeah well you don't seem to understand what you just did you ignoramus" says Donna

"Can we stop with the insults big Red...and besides I'm not an anus, I'm much prettier."

"Not ANUS you idiot, A-M-U-S, oh why do I bother. Look, you have to tell Jackie as soon as she gets back."

"Fine I will, sheesh, what's Jackie going to do?" Kelso exclaims sarcastically

"Oh and Hyde too, he should know." adds Eric

"Oh no man, Hyde will kill me for telling his kid before him." says Kelso clearly scared

"Good, that way you learn your lesson, moron."

What they didn't know was that Stevie had been listening to them from the top of their stairs. When they finally stopped talking, he got up to go find Kitty.

**In the kitchen:**

Kitty is sitting with Red in the table. She's sipping on a glass of Kahlua while Red reads the newspaper. Stevie walks in through the swinging door, head down looking towards the floor.

"Stevie, honey what's wrong? Are you hungry?"

"Kitty, why is it that you always want to feed everyone?" asks Red

Stevie sits quietly while Kitty and Red go on for a few minutes about Kitty's constant habit at sheltering and feeding everyone.

"Grandma Kitty, grandpa Red...could you tell me about Hyde?"

Looking slightly confused, Red puts down his newspaper and turns to look at Stevie. Kitty furrows her brow and puts her drink down as well.

"Why so curious about Hyde?" asks Red.

"I just want to know about my dad." says Stevie as he looks up at them for the first time.

"Oh crap."

"I need a stronger drink."

**A/N: Okay, I know this one isn't too good. I hadn't planned on Kelso spilling the beans, but my other idea would have made this too much like the other stories out there about the same subject. Anyways, sorry it took a while to update, I was away on vacation and I've been getting everything ready before going back to school. Let me know what you guys think (constructively please). Also check out my other stories, I recently did a one shot titled _creepy and unnatural? Not at all! _I'll try to put up the next chapter up soon. **


	16. Dedicated to the King Michael Kelso

**Inspiration Point:**

"After she left with her husband, I just kept on keeping on. Stayed with the Formans, kept Grooves running, enjoying _film_" Hyde says with a smile as he fills Jackie in on the last five years of his life. "Never heard from her again." Jackie shakes her head at the realization that the man who was once her world is not much different.

After a few seconds of silence, she got up the nerve to ask him the one question that had bothered her for years.

"Did you love her?"

Turning to look at her, Hyde looks intently into her eyes wondering how long she's been keeping that question in. "Sam?"

"Yeah, Sam. Did you love her?" asks Jackie once again.

Through the lenses of his shades Hyde can see the subtle urgency behind her voice, almost as though her survival depended on his answer. Deciding that he should be honest with her, Hyde removes his glasses, much to Jackie's surprise, takes a deep breath, reaches over to her and runs his fingers through her hair. The gentle gesture threw Jackie off for she had not been expecting him to behave in the same way he so familiarly had when the were together.

Sighing heavily he admits, "I've only loved one person in my life and sure we didn't have the best relationship but my heart belongs to her. I can't give away something that doesn't belong to me."

Speechless, Jackie turns away from Hyde. _Don't fall for this again _she tells herself. _That's how it always is, break up, go back, break up, go back. _"Steven I-" but Hyde cuts her off.

"No Jackie, listen. I know I already apologized but I want you to know that I never stopped loving you and if I could go back and change everything I ever did to hurt you, Sam, the nurse, everything, I would. I was so stupid and afraid of you that I tried to hide behind this wall and I refused to let you in."

"You? Afraid of me?"

"Yes. You terrified me. Not so much you but rather the power you had over me. I found myself doing things for you and feeling things for you that I've never done or felt for anyone before, not even myself. It scared me that you knew me so well and had the ability to make me do whatever you wanted. I mean I punched a guy in the face for you and while I have no problem beating the crap out of somebody, it was the first time I did it because I was jealous and because he offended you."

Thinking about what he was saying, Jackie recalled back to Veteran's Day and Chip. _So much for nor feeling anything _ she thinks as she remembers Hyde agreeing with her that night after their first kissed that he had not felt anything either.

The desperation in his eyes longing for her forgiveness made her feel sorry for him, "Look Steven, I want to put everything behind us. Sam, the nurse, Chicago, and just start over for the sake of our son."

Pulling his hand away from her, Hyde looks out his window. "Forget everything huh?"

Thoughts begin racing through his mind of the idea of her wanting to forget all the good times they had together. The many times they spent in his room talking, making love, dreaming of a future together.

"Not everything, just the bad things, you know?" she answered almost as though she had read his mind. "I want to keep the good memories of us."

With a sudden shimmer of hope, he turns to her once more and smiles his wicked smile. "Yeah?" he asks.

Smiling at the all too familiar expression, Jackie slaps his shoulder playfully. "Pig."

"Always doll."

At the mentioning of his old nickname for her, Jackie's body tensed. How many times had she heard him call her that? Memories filled her mind. She began recalling everything from the prom, to the Valentine's Day dance after the reconciled and even the day her parent's cabin was foreclosed. She thought about the small bedroom in the basement that served as their little escape from reality and a haven for their fantasies and desires to spend the rest of their lives together.

Oblivious to her sudden uncomfortable state, Hyde just sits in silence, his own thoughts racing through his mind. Finally breaking the silence he asks, "when will you tell him about me?"

Smiling sadly, Jackie's only thought becomes _here we go._

**Forman's Kitchen:**

"Your dad? Where did you hear that?" asks Kitty laughing her famous nervous laugh.

She looks over to Red in search of his assistance on the situation, but he merely has gone back to reading his paper. He simply shakes his head at his disapproval of the predicament they have gotten themselves into.

"Uncle Kelso said mommy was out talking to my dad, Hyde. Is it true? Is he really my dad grandma Kitty?" asks Stevie.

Knowing his wife's habit of trying to make everything better for everyone, Red cuts her off before she gets the chance to response.

"Look son, this is something you should talk about with your mom, not us."

Frowning, Stevie looks back down at the table. "I just wanted to know."

"Oh Red, can we just tell him?" asks Kitty, saddened by Stevie's reaction.

"No Kitty, this is Jackie's problem" responds Red without looking up from his paper.

"But Red-"

"Kitty, no" he replies with a definite tone.

Accepting defeat, Kitty glances back and forth between a sad-looking Stevie and a very determined Red.

"I'm sorry sweetie, you'll just have to wait for your mom to get back."

As Kitty turns away to head towards the bar in the living room, Red speaks. "Kitty?"

Turning back quickly with hope that Red has changed his mind about telling Stevie, Kitty answers "Yes Red?"

"Go get that idiot Kelso, I want to have a talk with him."

Slightly disappointed, Kitty nods and heads out the swinging doors and makes her way down to the basement. Once there, she finds Eric and Donna sitting on the couch, Kelso sitting on the beach chair and Fez by the deep freeze.

"Michael honey, will you come upstairs? Red would like to speak to you."

As she begins walking back up the stairs, Kitty catches a glimpse of the stupid helmet and adds, "you might want to bring that with you" she says pointing towards it.

Once Kitty fully ascends the stairs, Donna, Eric and Fez look over to Kelso, horrified. Resting his head on his hands, Kelso recalls the last time Red wanted to "speak to him" back when he began dating Laurie.

"Oh man you guys, I'm SCREWED."

The others simply nod as Kelso stands up, grabs the stupid helmet, and heads upstairs.

**Inspiration Point:**

"Together huh?" says Hyde after Jackie tells him she would like them to tell Stevie together.

"Yeah, I figured we're in this together now you know?"

Apprehension slowly begins to engulf Hyde's thoughts.

"What if he, you know, resents me for not being there for five years?"

At this, Jackie begins to laugh hysterically earning her a _very _confused look from Hyde.

"Steven, you're so cute when you're scared." Once the words escaped her mouth, Jackie becomes embarrassed and blushes furiously. _He's your ex for Christ's sake, you can't say that._

"I mean, um...I didn't mean" she stutters nervously and then glances away from Hyde.

Laughing at the endearing gesture, Hyde laughs before saying "always _doll."_

Jackie looks back to him and, though still embarrassed, smiles.

"Steven, he needs you too much to resent you. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Hoping her words are true and trying to convince himself that everything will indeed be fine, Hyde nods, looks forward to the front of the car, and starts it up.

_Here we go._ He thinks as the car goes on reverse.


	17. That 70's Ending

**Forman's Kitchen:**

Red is still sitting in the same chair when Kelso walks into the kitchen. Kelso begins walking towards the table, afraid, and sits across from him holding the stupid helmet on his lap. Kitty and Stevie had already left the room for Kitty knew what was to come.

A few minutes of silence had passed and Kelso began to get more anxious with each passing second. Red finally looks directly at Kelso with a stern face and asks, "do you know why you're here?"

In typical Kelso fashion, he responds, "well I was here to just hang out in your basement but then Mrs. Forman told me you wanted to speak to me."

"And do you know why I wanted to speak to you?"

"Well seeing that I'm not dating Laurie anymore, I'm guessing it's because you think I'm awesome!"

Incredulous at Kelso's stupidity, Red shook his head and stood up from his chair which made Kelso even more afraid.

"You wanna take another guess dumbass?"

There it was, the infamous dumbass. Kelso had grown to know what this means, just as everyone else in the gang had also. You had done or said something wrong. Luckily for Kelso, he had done _and _said something wrong so he was getting the 2-for-1 special.

"I um..would rather if..uh, you told me" Kelso answered quietly.

"Well I'm sure Jackie would have rather Stevie to hear the news of Hyde being his dad from her and not from a dumb ass like you."

Making an "O" with his mouth, Kelso began to understand what this is all about.

"Red it just kind of slipped out, you know how you used to say something about Mrs. Forman's menopause but you didn't mean it."

Glaring at Kelso, Red had to stop himself from yelling. _How many times has this dumb ass hit his head? _"Kelso, this isn't the same thing. Kitty knew she was acting crazy and that was temporary. You told Jackie's kid something that she has been afraid to tell him for five years. I think what you did is stupider than anything that ever "slipped" from me."

"Well yeah but I mean, it's just Jackie. She loves me cuz I was like her first boyfriend and besides look at me. Who can stay mad at this face?"

Thinking this over, it dawned on Red, Stevie was Hyde's kid as well and if Jackie didn't hurt Kelso, Hyde sure as hell was.

Almost as if on cue, Hyde and Jackie enter through the sliding door. The two displayed a look of confusion once they saw the odd pair together in the kitchen.

"What's going on?" asks Hyde looking from Red to Kelso, knowing something is up.

A little more oblivious to anything being wrong, Jackie continues to stand behind Hyde and looks around the kitchen for Kitty who was unusually not here.

"Go on Kelso, tell them what's going on." Red is now smirking as he watches Kelso squirm in his seat, clearly afraid of Hyde hurting him.

"Oh um..nothing, me and my buddy Red are just um, having quality time."

Looking over at Red, Hyde raises an eyebrow showing his disbelief. Red merely shakes his head signaling that that is not what this was about. This prompted Hyde to look back at Kelso in a questioningly way.

"Kelso?" he asks waiting to hear the truth.

"Um, where's Stevie?" interrupts Jackie.

"Kitty took him out for some ice cream," says Red "but Kelso here can tell you a funny story about Stevie. Take it away _Smart mouth_."

Red walked out of the kitchen leaving Kelso to deal with an annoyed Hyde and a concerned Jackie. _Kid doesn't stand a chance. _

"Well?" says Hyde crossing his arms in front of his chest and growing impatient.

Trying to think of something to tell them, other than the truth that is, Kelso hesitates for a few minutes, fidgeting with anything he could find on the table, trying to find some sort of distraction that will prolong the beatings Hyde was guaranteed to give him. His only problem is that his mind doesn't process things too quickly, therefore what was supposed to be a few seconds of silence, extended into minutes, and the more minutes passed, the more annoyed Hyde got and the more concerned Jackie grew.

"Michael what happened to Stevie?"

"Kelso, what the hell did you do?"

Deciding that they would find out sooner or later, from the Forman's or from another member of the gang, Kelso decided that it was best they hear it from the donkey's mouth, or something like that.

"Okay, at first you might get mad at me, but let me remind you, I have been a friend to you" he says pointing at Hyde, "and the man who pleasured you for years" he said looking towards Jackie. Thinking as he went on, Kelso came up with a plan that will result in both him telling them what happened and him getting out pain-free. Get up and run.

"It really is a funny story, you'll laugh about it, almost as hard as when I laughed when I pleasured Jackie in Chicago."

Hyde clenched his fist at the memory that so often hunted him, even all these years later.

"Michael, nothing happened between us in Chicago" Jackie added sensing the tension that was brought on by the statement.

"Well damn Jackie, we know that but Hyde didn't."

Rolling his eyes, Hyde was tired of waiting for his dumb friend to say what he had to say. All he wanted to do was find Stevie and start making up for the last five years. "Can you just spit it out you idiot?"

"IsortoftoldSteviethatHydewashisdad" Kelso said all in one breath as fast as he could.

"You did what?" "WHAT!?" Both Jackie and Hyde said in unison.

Before they could fully react, Kelso turned around and headed towards the sliding door. His exit was far from graceful as he forgot to open the door and slammed his entire body into it, unhinging it from the panel.

"Damn, why don't they just get a regular door?" he adds. Noticing that Hyde was in the process of reacting, he quickly opened the door and ran outside.

"I'm going to kill him" said Hyde and as soon as he took a step forward to chase after Kelso, Jackie reached for his wrist and stopped him.

He turned to look at her and saw a range of fear in her eyes. Everything from fear to anger to shame was being displayed in them. Looking down at where she was holding on to him, he was afraid to ask what they should do next.

"It was bound to happen you know?" she said softly.

Looking back up, he was shocked to see how calm she was being about the entire situation. He had been expecting her to scream, cry, pout, anything to show that she was angry. Angry at Kelso for being such an idiot, angry at him for not being there for five years, just angry. This new Jackie he didn't understand. She was passive, she was pensive, she wasn't his.

For the first time since he saw her for the first time in five years Hyde saw the change in her. She was no longer the little girl he had known, she was a woman, and he didn't know her.

"Steven?"

Breaking his trance, he looked into her eyes and saw something else. It was hope. Perhaps hope that things would get better, that life would stop being unjust and just let her be happy. Maybe it was hope in him. _Maybe _he thought.

"Huh?" he answered lamely.

"I said he was going to find out sooner or later."

"I would have rather been the one to tell him, not that idiot Kelso."

"Yeah but things don't really go as they're supposed to, we know that very well."

Slightly nodding his head he realized that she had let go of his wrist.

Not a minute had passed before the sliding door opened once again and in come Kitty and Stevie. They were laughing and Hyde could see Stevie was covered in ice cream. As soon as the child saw Jackie he ran to her, leaving Kitty to look at Hyde with an expression he was not familiar with.

"Mommy, grandma Kitty bought me ice cream and we walked in the park" said Stevie excitedly.

"I can see that baby, you're all covered in ice cream and sticky, we need to give you another bath."

Hyde looked on the side at the interaction between mother and son and secretly longed to be included into their world. Looking over at Kitty, he saw that she too looked on at Jackie and Stevie in adoration, and then she turned to look at him once more, this time with a smile on her face. He instantly knew he couldn't let these two people down. He knew that from now on, he had to be there for them, because no matter how much he wanted to believe it, they weren't alright by themselves, and he wouldn't be alright without them.

Sensing what was going on around her, Jackie looked up from her son and looked first towards Kitty, and then towards Hyde. Looking back down at Stevie, she could see that he himself had redirected his gaze from her to Hyde.

Without any explanation, the child moved away from his mother and began walking in Hyde's direction.

No one in the room spoke. Kitty and Jackie merely looked on at what was occurring while Hyde and Stevie just stared at each other.

Now standing in front of the man he now knew to be his father, Stevie began to observe Hyde, almost as though he were a creature of another planet. Hyde, not knowing what to do or say merely shifted from one foot to the other. He decided it would be best to see what Stevie was going to do.

After a few more seconds of silence, something happened that caught everyone off guard-Stevie started to cry. Tears began to run down his face faster and faster. Horrified, Hyde looked to Jackie for help. She, panicking herself, moved towards her son, knelt down on one knee and began caressing his back.

"Baby what's wrong, why are you crying?"

"I..I um...I'm not weird like they all said. I ha-ha-have a father too"

Tears began forming in Jackie's eyes. There it was again, this idea that he was different because he was raised without a father. How long had he thought he was weird? How long had he gone being ridiculed?

Hyde's chest swelled with anger at the idea that people out there had made this child feel like an outsider because he didn't have a father. But then again, he himself knew what that was like. He knew how people were and how little they expected of you because you're just a fatherless orphan who won't amount to anything. Looking over to Kitty, Hyde realized she had left the kitchen without him noticing.

There was only him and a crying Jackie holding a crying child who has just seen his father for the first time in his life. _Huh, like it was copied right out of a soap opera. _

Not knowing what to do next, Hyde was sidetracked when Stevie let go of his mother's embrace and took another step closer to him. He was trying his best to seize the tears escaping for his eyes. What happened next, neither Hyde nor Jackie were expecting.

Stevie reached out his hand, just as he had the very first time he saw Hyde. "Hey, I'm Stevie."

Looking at the extended hand, Hyde couldn't believe what was happening. Here he stood, in front of the only woman he ever loved and the five year old son they had together whom he knew nothing about, and he was being given a chance to be a part of his life.

Hyde looked over over at Jackie who was now standing, looking at him. She was smiling at him and he now saw a hint of the girl he knew, the giddy, happy girl who had the perfect life, and though he knew this was far from who she now was, he knew that this was the first step they both needed to get their lives back.

Looking back down at his son, Hyde reached out to grab his hand and said, "I'm Hyde, um...Steven Hyde. Cool shirt."

**A/N: Okay guys, sorry it took so long, but this is it. THE END. I thought about extending this story further, but I figured it was as good an ending as I could come up with. Some of you might not like it, some of you might, but it just felt right. I hope you did like it though, because I put a lot of thought into it. Anyways, Review, let me know what you thought and THANKS A LOT FOR READING. **


End file.
